ISLAMABAD: Giving a major relief to landlords, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday extended the jurisdiction of the rent controller to all over the capital that makes possible the ejection of defaulting tenants in six months.

The court, however, kept Diplomatic Enclave out of the rent law to the extent of premises being used by foreign missions, diplomats and government only, but held that the rent agreement between private parties was subject to the jurisdiction of the controller.

Mohammad Shahbaz in his petition had requested for directions to the capital administration and the federal government to amend the Islamabad Rent Restriction Ordinance (IRRO) extending it to a private housing society for swift disposal of suits for ejection of defaulting tenants.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, however, issued direction for extending the IRRO to all private housing societies and suburbs of the federal capital.

Landlords in private housing societies can now evict defaulting tenants in six months

At present, under the IRRO, the rent controller can entertain petitions of properties situated within the urban areas/developed sectors of Islamabad. The law makes it mandatory for the rent controller to decide the ejection petition within six months.

On the other hand, landlords in private societies and in rural areas file a suit in the civil judge of their respective jurisdiction which takes years to conclude.

The petitioner requested the court to issue a direction to the secretary, Ministry of Interior, and the chief commissioner Islamabad to propose amendments in IRRO for inclusion of territories to ensure equal protection of law to all citizens of the capital territory.

Assistant Attorney General Barrister Usman Ghumman, on the other hand, contended that the federal government was empowered to include any area within the jurisdiction of IRRO in certain circumstances.

He said the rent law was not applicable in any area not included by the federal government under the jurisdiction of the law and citizens in such an area have to apply for remedy under the Transfer of Property Act 1882.

The law officer conceded that “rural area” had not been defined anywhere in the law.

The court noted that Islamabad Capital Territory had to be seen in the light of zoning regulations as defined in the Islamabad Capital Territory (Zoning) Regulations 1992 as well as in the recent enactment of the local government law as the term ICT was widely used in all legislation, but urban area had not been explained in particular.

Justice Kayani referred to the dictionary meanings of the word ‘urban’ and stated in the order that “generalise concept of urban area stands cleared, which ordinarily means city or town based upon the buildings, metropolitan areas, where population beyond 50,000 or more was settled for on account of provision, trade and community services were provided in the area. These are the features of urban concept generally and widely used in common parlance”.

The court order stated: “There is no legal impediment on the basis of which a person, who owns a property in any suburban area or non-recognised urban areas, could be deprived of his legal right to get his property vacated through a mechanism provided in Islamabad Rent Restriction Ordinance 2001.”

The judge observed: “It is admitted position on behalf of the respondent federal government that there were no structured criteria or an intelligible differentia to select any area qua the legal needs of the landlords and tenants within the Islamabad Capital Territory for the application of IRRO.”

The court observed that Diplomatic Enclave had been excluded from the IRRO 2001 as such restriction had been applied to protect the rights of diplomats and the state owned buildings as a matter of policy to avoid unnecessary legal hardships. However, at the same time, the relationship of landlord and tenant in the Diplomatic Enclave between private individuals could not be considered excluded from the legal cover of IRRO.”

The court extended the IRRO to approved or unapproved societies of CDA or any other area acquired or non-acquired or even constructed in any part of ICT beyond the zoning limit and directed the federal government to issue the necessary notification.

The court directed the registrar office to forward the copy of the judgement to the secretaries of the ministries of interior and law and justice for implementation and sought a compliance report in a fortnight.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2023