Amendments to building Bill sought

: Participants at a seminar on ‘Kerala Building (Lease, Standard Rent and other Facilities) Bill-2012’, organised by the Calicut Bar Association on Thursday, were unanimous in their opinion that the Bill would benefits only landlords. The seminar, which was attended by senior lawyers, also called upon the State government to seek the possibility of some amendments to the bill so as to give more power and privilege to tenants’ rights.

Presenting the topic, P.S. Ramalingam, senior lawyer at the Calicut Bar, said the Bill, now under the consideration of a subject committee, had failed to find a standard parameter to determine the accurate rent being collected by landlords from their tenants. “The Bill, if enacted, would totally affect the existing balance of the system and would sweep away the concept of a social welfare legislation,” he said. Mr. Ramalingam maintained that the process of determining rent would be purely an affair between the landlord concerned and the tenant as the government had totally kept away from making any possible intervention. “In such a case, financially backward families would be compelled to agree with the unbending terms and conditions of the landlord,” he pointed out.

Explaining some of the new sections in the Act that would totally replace the flexible custom and practices in the existing Kerala Building Rule, Mr. Ramalingam said the new law would give powers to the landlord to demand a 20 per cent hike in the rent if the tenancy was extended beyond a period of three years. “In addition to this, a tenant would be liable to pay several other charges for building maintenance and service,” he said.

Lawyers who took part in the seminar and later in a discussion on the topic appealed to the Calicut Bar Association leaders to take up the issue and submit a memorandum to the State government demanding a reasonable amendment. They asked the Bar Association to collect suggestions from experts and appeal to the government to incorporate it with the Bill for a productive law.

The seminar and discussion on the new bill was organised as part of a lecture series planned by the Bar Association on diverse topics. Kousar Edapagath, II Additional District Judge, Forest Tribunal, opened the lecture series. C.K. Madhusudan, president, Calicut Bar Association, presided. .