Form commission to fix house rent: HC

The High Court on Wednesday ordered the authorities concerned to form a high-powered commission to fix minimum and maximum house rents based on areas and solve problems between house owners and tenants after properly identifying those.
An HC bench comprising Justice Bazlur Rahman and Justice Ruhul Quddus passed the order after a hearing on a writ petition filed five years back seeking the enforcement of the House Rent Act, a news agency reported.
The court asked the cabinet secretary to form a seven-member commission within six months.
It also directed the OCs of all police stations to take steps so that the landlords cannot force the tenants to leave the house or threaten them, and also ensure their safety, if necessary, until the recommendations of the commission take a legal shape.
The court order says the commission will be headed by a legal expert nominated by the Law Ministry.
The commission members will include a university teacher on housing and urban issues, an economist, a senior official of the housing and public works ministry, a consumers’ rights expert, one civil society representative and a City Corporation official nominated by the government.
It says the commission will make recommendations for fixing maximum and minimum house rent in different areas after hearing the opinions of house owners and tenants and holding mass hearing, if necessary.
It will identify the problems of house owners and tenants after discussions with them and submit recommendations with solutions to the problems.
The court asked the government to appoint a house rent controller, an additional controller and a deputy controller at every ward all over the country as per the section 3 of House Rent Control Act, 1991 for hearing and disposing of the allegations regarding the house rent until the commission is formed. The verdict says ‘the government will take the initiative as per its financial capacity’.
Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, a rights body, filed the petition in April 2010 seeking enforcement of the House Rent Control Act.
In the writ petition, Manzill Murshid, the counsel for the PIL petitioner, said though provisions were made in the House Rent Control Act to give receipts to the tenant, bar to collect excess rent than standard rate and restriction on claiming advance house rent more than the amount of equivalent to one month, the landlords have not been abiding by the prescribed rules.
On May 17, 2010, the High Court issued a rule asking the government to explain why directions should not be given to make effective the rule under the House Rent Control Act, 1991. The hearing on the rule concluded in May 2013.