Union Minister Rajya Vardhan Singh Rathore, who was recently inducted as Sports Minister after the cabinet reshuffle, will receive Rs 3 crore as refund from Parsvnath Developers for a defective flat which he brought in the year 2005 at Rs 75 lakh, reported The Times of India.
What was the case?
In the year 2005, Rathore had booked a flat in Parsvnath's Exotica project in Gurgaon and paid around Rs 75 lakh after taking a bank loan. The developer had said Rathore that the flat would be handed over by October 2009 but it didn't happen.
Subsequently, Rathore moved National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) asking the court to initiate a legal action. Then the NCDRC directed the company to give the flat to Rathore within eight months.
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The order was then challenged by Parsvnath in the Supreme Court. Last year, the court directed Parsvnath developers to hand over possession of the flat in two days.
Flat lacked basic amenities
Even though the developer had handed over the flat to Rathore, the minister found that the flat lacked basic facilities like parking space.
The minister later decided to go for an out-of-court settlement with the developer which agreed to refund the money with interest.
Rathore's counsel Kavita Wadia told the Supreme Court that the developer had paid over five cheques as refund after her client found that the flat had major defects, and which is difficult to fix.
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Earlier, the apex court had rapped real-estate firms for making tall claims to purchasers which remained unfulfilled due to inordinate delay in completing the housing projects.
The court had on October 18, 2016, directed the SC registry to disburse Rs 12 crore, deposited by real estate firm Parsvnath Buildwell Pvt Ltd, to 70 home buyers on pro-rata basis after proper identification.
It had also directed the firm to deposit Rs 10 crore by December 10 with Supreme Court registry.
The apex court's observation had come after Parsvnath Buildwell Pvt Ltd had said it would give the flats to 70 home buyers, who are before the court, by December 17.
It comes close on the heels of the another mammoth real estate quicksand that swallowed up the investments of at least Jaypee home buyers.
Around 32,000 buyers have booked their homes in 27 different housing projects of Jaypee Infratech and they have been "left in the lurch as the insolvency proceedings have been started against it.
Recently, the Supreme Court stayed the insolvency proceedings against real estate firm Jaypee Infratech at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and sought the firm's response on a plea seeking protection of the interests of hassled home buyers who have neither got home nor their money back.
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(With PTI inputs)
