News: Draft Tenancy Act faces ire of commercial property owners-12-07-2019
Updated On :July 12, 2019
It said welfare policies as a rule should help those who are senior citizens or those whose needs are the most.
NEW DELHI: Owners of prime commercial properties, who have been receiving paltry rent from tenants, have lashed out at the central government citing that the Draft Model Tenancy Act proposes to leave out all existing rent agreements.
“We passed a resolution out-rightly rejecting the proposed Model Tenancy Act lock, stock and barrel. The first reason for rejection is that it has deliberately and on purpose left out the thousands of property owners in Delhi and Mumbai who would continue to get pittance as rent for properties in prime commercial areas which were rented out six to eight decades earlier,” said statement issued by the Committee for the Repeal of Delhi Rent Control Act (CRDRCA)
It said welfare policies as a rule should help those who are senior citizens or those whose needs are the most. “In the instant case even this basic principle has been lost sight of and owners in the age group of 60 to 80 years have been thrown to the wolves,” the organisation said.
The umbrella entity of affected landlords also alleged that the government was applying old tactics of divide and rule. “In the instant case they are creating a rift between landlords of new and old tenancies,” the association said.
It also alleged that the Centre has once again succumbed to the powerful tenant-trader lobby for the nth time since 1995.
The earlier draft of 2015 had a provision to bring the existing rent contracts into its ambit in a time-bound manner. It faced stiff opposition from traders in Delhi and Mumbai. The officials claimed that they have proposed prospective application of the proposed law to avoid any litigation and to ensure that the model law is rolled out across all states.
The CRDRCA has challenged the decision of Delhi High Court in January this year which upheld the constitutional validity of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 in the Supreme Court. The SC is likely to hear the case later this month, it said.
