Delhi High Court Issues Notice To Ministry On Plea Claiming Eviction Provision under DRCA Discriminatory Towards Landlords

Delhi High Court Issues Notice To Ministry On Plea Claiming Eviction Provision under DRCA Discriminatory Towards Landlords

A bench of Delhi High Court (HC) comprising of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (Ministry) for seeking their stand on the petition claiming that the Delhi Rent Control Act (DRCA Act) does not have provision for eviction of tenants from commercial properties where they have other commercial properties

The HC sought response of the Centre on a plea wherein it was claimed that the provision of the Act dealing with the eviction of tenants was 'discriminatory towards the landlords' concerning commercial properties.

The factual matrix of the case is that a petition was filed claiming that the Act is discriminatory as a landlord can seek eviction of a tenant under the provisions of the Act from a residential property if the tenant has an alternative accommodation and there is no similar provision in the Act for the commercial properties.

The petition was filed by two brothers who were represented by Advocates Abhinav Beri, Shivam Khera, and Satyam Khera. The Advocates contended that not considering commercial properties under the eviction provisions of the Act was "Purely arbitrary, unreasonable and a latent drafting flaw which has just been ignored for a very long time".

The petition was filed challenging the order of the Additional Rent Controller who has rejected their plea for seeking eviction of their tenants from a commercial property, although the tenants own several other commercial properties.The brothers sought eviction of tenants from the shop/ commercial property that was close to their shop, at Ajmeri Gate. They sought eviction as they wanted to expand their business and hence required more space.

The brothers contended that the Act was initially enacted in 1958 to protect tenants who had no alternative accommodation. However, now the circumstances have changed and the interests of landlords should also be considered specifically regarding commercial properties.

The plea claimed, "Landlords have been forced to not to seek legitimate eviction when tenants do not require any more protection under DRCA due to change in circumstance of the tenant."