Capital’s traders demand halt in forced evictions till the promulgation of rent control act
Promulgation of a balanced rent control act in the federal capital is a long standing demand of the local traders and its amended bill should be presented in the parliament as early as possible for its enactment into rent law, said Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Senior Vice President and Information of Traders Action Committee Secretary Khalid Chaudhry while addressing the meeting of representatives of various markets.
Chaudhry said that due to absence of rent law, local traders were feeling insecure as whenever tenants wanted, they issued notice to traders for eviction while traders have established goodwill of their business after long hard work and shifting business to a new location proved destructive.
He said a Reconciliation Committee was proposed in the amended bill, which is lying in the National Assembly for approval. The said committee was to resolve out-of-the-court rent disputes and no party was to end the rent agreement unilaterally while rent defaulter would be provided an opportunity by the court to clear all dues instead of being forcefully evicted.
He said if any trader was forcefully evicted, traders would launch strong resistance to such moves and it could create law and order problems in the city. He said traders are peaceful citizens as they need peace to promote business activities, but if their future was put at stake, they would use all possible means to protect their rights.
He said due to lack of rent law, rents of shops and houses have gone up tremendously due to which Islamabad has become very costly city. If this trend continued, the federal capital would become one of the costliest city in the world.
