Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday directed the State of Punjab to file its reply on the petition, filed by the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, challenging the Punjab Rent Control Act on the ground that powers of rent controllers and appellate authorities had been illegally vested from judicial officers to executive officers.
The council, in its petition, has also sought quashing of the notification issued on November 12, by the Department of local Government, making amendments in the Punjab Rent Act, 1995. The Act was enacted to provide for the regulation of rents, repairs, maintenance and eviction relating to the premises and connected matters in Punjab.
During the hearing of the matter, the court was informed that through a notification dated November 12, certain amendments were carried out in the 1995 Act pertaining to the functioning of rent courts, appointment of rent authorities, powers and functions of the tribunal, petition fees and powers of review, among others.
It was also argued that in 1973, Haryana Government had appointed sub-divisional officers as controllers and deputy commissioners were appointed as the appellate authority. But, after statewide protests, the Haryana government in 1978, superseded the earlier notification and appointed all subordinate judges as rent controllers, the petition added. The Bench has fixed the next hearing of the case for November 27.
Protesting against the enactment of the new Act, the advocates in different parts of the State have been boycotting work against the Punjab Government’s decision to transfer rent control powers from judicial officers to sub-divisional level magistrate, apprehending “political intervention” in cases under the Act.