A law granting to any building belonging to government-sponsored Housing Board exemption from the operation of the law relating to Rent Control. Examine the Constitutional validity of the law.

Question: [A law granting to any building belonging to government-sponsored Housing Board exemption from the operation of the law relating to Rent Control. Examine the Constitutional validity of the law. [BJS 1975]

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [A law granting to any building belonging to government-sponsored Housing Board exemption from the operation of the law relating to Rent Control. Examine the Constitutional validity of the law.]

Answer

Under the Indian Constitution, the provision of housing is a state subject under List II of the Seventh Schedule. Thus, the enactment and enforcement of rent control laws is the responsibility of the individual states. While this is in accordance with the federal nature of the Indian Republic, it makes a comparative analysis of the rent control laws that much more difficult. Exemptions have been granted under many of the Rent Control Acts concerning government property which includes as follow:

• Properties belonging to the government
• Any tenancy created by a grant from the Government in respect of the premises taken on lease or requisitioned, by the Government

One bone of contention over the years has been the feature of most Rent Control Acts to grant exemptions to the properties owned by the government. While some say that this is a discriminatory practice, their argument is dismissed by the assertion that the government is not expected to raise rents or eject tenants in the pursuit of higher revenues. Thus tenants of government-owned properties are in no need of protection.

It is imperative to note the Supreme Court judgment in the landmark case of D.C. Bhatia & Ors. v. Union of India, similar was the contention of the Appellant who filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the validity of the newly inserted Section 3(c) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, which exempted properties belonging to the government and any tenancy created by a grant from the Government in respect of the premises taken on lease or requisitioned, by the Government.

In the instant case, the classification of the premises for extending benefit under the Act has been made on the basis of the rent payable on the premises. t is for the Legislature to decide whether or not any section of the people should be protected in any way by law. For this purpose, the Legislature can identify the section of the people who needs protection and decide how the classification will be done or what will be the cut-off point for the purpose of making such classification. The classification may be done on an income basis or rental basis or some other basis.

The Court can only consider whether the classification has been done on an understandable basis having regard to the object of the statute. The Court will not question its validity on the ground of lack of legislative wisdom. If the classification is totally irrational and has no nexus with the object sought to be achieved by the statute, then only will the Court strike down such classification. On the basis of these arguments, it is clear that excluding government properties and premises from the purview of the Act would not be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

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