Meeting on new Rent Act Draft Bill in Nagpur

MUMBAI, DEC 19: The high-level meeting to discuss important aspects of the proposed Maharashtra Rent Act draft Bill including protection to all existing tenants was cancelled today as State Housing Minister Suresh Jain failed to attend. The meeting, which was scheduled to be held at the Chief Minister8217;s official residence, Varsha, will now be convened in Nagpur before the Bill is introduced in the Assembly, Minister of State for Housing Raj Purohit told The Indian Express.

The meeting will sort out all the loose ends of the draft Bill before it is tabled during the ongoing winter session in Nagpur. The important points to be debated include extending the provision of protection to all existing tenants under the present Rent Act into the new Act and the percentage of increase in the rent of tenanted premises.

Joshi told The Indian Express today that the Bill would soon be presented in the House in the ongoing winter assembly session at Nagpur. He however did not reveal when exactly it will betabled.

The new draft Bill which will replace the old Bombay Rent Control Act has been mired in controversy ever since several recommendations of the joint select committee on the Act were made public. The new draft Bill has proposed to legalise pagree transactions while keeping the increase in rent as small as possible in favour of the large number of tenants in old existing premises.

However, it was proposed to exclude tenants of post-1987 built buildings from the purview of the Rent Act altogether, Purohit had earlier revealed.