CM’s promise to tenants at variance with SC order

Instead of committing that his government will bring in the new legislation on the specified day as was promised by Deepak Nargolkar, government’s counsel, to the apex court, Joshi said his government will file a review petition before the Supreme Court. “I feel that the case should be heard by a larger bench of the apex court,” Joshi had said during his media briefing on Thursday.

“We feel that the assurance given by Joshi was against the spirit of the orders passed by the apex court. The decision to seek the transfer of the case to a larger bench was taken keeping in mind the ensuing parliamentary elections as otherwise, it would have been difficult for him to face the electorate,” a senior official said, and added that while Joshi is in favour of retaining the existing rents, both Housing Minister Sureshdada Jain and Housing Secretary V P Raja have on several occasions stressed the need to abolish the legislation to make available a housing stock of over 1 lakh flats that remain locked in the city. “A large number of owners are reluctant to rent out their flats because the Rent Control Act is in force,” said a Housing Department official.

While Joshi was against hiking the rents, the apex court has observed: “Taking all the facts and circumstances into consideration, we have no doubt that the existing provisions of the Bombay Rent Act relating to the determination and fixation of the standard rent can no longer be considered to be reasonable. The said provisions would have been struck down as having now become unreasonable and arbitrary, but we think it is unnecessary to strike down the same in view of the fact that the present extended period of the Rent Control Act comes to an end on March 31, 1998.”

Another important observation of the Supreme Court was on the ill-effects of the low rents. “The legislature itself has taken notice of the fact that puggrie (deposit) system has become prevalent in Mumbai because of the rent restriction act. This court was also asked to take judicial notice of the fact that in view of the unreasonably low rents, which are being received by the landlords, recourse is being taken to other methods to seek redress. Those methods which are adopted are illegal and are gradually giving rise to a state of lawlessness where, it is feared, the courts may become irrelevant in deciding disputes between the landlords and tenants. This should be a cause of serious concern because if this judicialbacklash gathers momentum, the main sufferers will be the tenants for whose benefit the Rent Control Act was framed,” the Supreme Court observes.

When these observations of the SC were brought to the notice of the Chief Minister, he declined to comment saying that it will improper to make observations on the orders of the apex court.