Rent Control Act Heavily Tilted: Trade Leader

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Jul, 2018 ) :Trader leader and former Senior Vice President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ICCI) Malik Sohail Hussain Sunday alleged that Islamabad Rent Control Act was tilted towards property owners who were exploiting the trading community.

An indefinite strike had been planned if issues of the business community were not resolved by the authorities, he warned, said a press release here.

Speaking to the business community, Malik Sohail Hussain, former president of ICCI Ijaz Abbasi, Khalid Chaudhry, Ajmal Baloch, Yusuf Rajput, Muhammad Hussain, Adil Anis, Ch. Irfan and Tahir Abbasi said the Rent Control Act was not balanced which continue to help property owners exploit the traders.

Thousands of traders were forced to live in fear and on the mercy of greedy property owners who put moral values on the backburner for petty gains, they said.

The business leaders said traders in the Federal capital had long been demanding a proper tenancy law which was being ignored.

The former government of PML-N and PPP had promised to resolve the issue but the problem was never addressed.

Malik Sohail said the traders were feeling insecure due to absence of a law of tenancy and whenever a business start paying dividends the materialistic owners of shops starts demanding increased rent.

The business community was frequently blackmailed which was highly unjustified and inhuman, they said, adding the passage of amended rent control bill was avoided providing an opportunity to the owners of the property to blackmail businessmen.

The traders warned that if the forced eviction of traders was not stopped immediately the traders would have no option but to launch a protest campaign.

Traders should be allowed to get relief from the superior courts if their plea was overturned by the lower courts, they demanded.

They asked the prime minister to take note of the situation and said chief justice had emerged as a ray of hope for the masses. The CJP should form a commission to investigate the matter and ensurejustice, they demanded.