SC refers Rent Act hearings to larger bench

MUMBAI, SEPT 14: The Supreme Court on Thursday referred the hearing of the Bombay Rent Act to a larger bench of five or seven judges as the court observed that the matter involves several constitutional points. The hearing will resume after the new bench is constituted at a later date. The matter came up for hearing today before a bench comprising of Justice H N Kripal, Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice K G Balakrishnan.

Several tenants’ associations have welcomed this move by the court as their case will attract detailed hearings. State counsel Ashok Desai pointed out that the matter refers to Article 19 (1f) dealing with the fundamental right to hold and acquire property, which has been deleted from the Constitution. This observation has forced Supreme Court to refer the matter to a larger bench.

Meanwhile, Br Bhattad, secretary of the Property Owners Association, observed that during the hearing, Ashok Desai made it clear that the new Maharashtra Rent Control Act does not give protection to tenants who have occupied tenancy rights after 1987. He added that this has cleared confusion prevailing in the market over whether market rents are applicable to these tenants.