KARACHI, July 11: The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) has suspended its plan of increasing rent by 1,000 per cent on commercial properties from July 1, as per notices issued to the tenants during April to June.

It has been decided that the board will collect the rent from the commercial tenants at the old rates till such time the officials and the tenants reach an understanding.

However, the ETPB has issued a notification on July 1, 2006 for the residential tenants. As per the notification, residential units/sub units measuring two marlas or less will only pay a nominal rent of Rs10 per month. The rent of the residential units/sub units between two to five marlas will stand fixed as per the prevalent rates subject to the annual increase of eight per cent as per the amended Scheme 1977.

The monthly rent of residential units/sub units in occupation of any person who has obtained a certificate from the concerned zonal administrator regarding his/her status of being indigent, orphan, and widow in distressful circumstances or other ones not capable of meeting the liability of paying the rent, shall also be remitted to the nominal rate of Rs10 per month. However, the eligible persons must obtain the certificate from the zonal administrator within two months of the issuance of this notification to avail the benefit.

The notification said that the benefit under this law was not available to the residential-cum-commercial units/sub units or such residential units/sub units which are capable of commercial utilisation at present or in near future.

These concessions had been given after a protest by the tenants last month at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) followed by another at the ETPB office in Karachi and also in Lahore.

Chairman of the board, Lt Gen (retd) Zulifiqar Ali Khan had met a 16- member delegation of the Anjuman Kiraydaran (tenants) of the Evacuee Trust property in Karachi on July 7, to resolve the issue.

In the meeting, the ETPB chairman informed the delegation that out of total 25,000 tenants in the country, some 14,000 are residential.

He asked the Anjuman to form a committee to present their point of view. It will make a comparative study on the rents of commercial properties of the Trust and non-Trust purely commercial properties in various areas so that the rent of the commercial properties of the ETPB could be reduced.

He assured the delegation that the board would continue to collect the old rental on commercial properties till the committee finalises its recommendations. Chairman Anjuman Kirayadaran Atiq Mir said a four member committee had been formed comprising ---Liaquat Ali Gaya, Khawaja Khawar Ameen, Syed Sharafat Ali and Mohammad Hanif Ghanchi--- which would conduct the market survey of the rents of commercial properties.

He said that members of the Anjuman had rejected an amendment made by the board which had empowered the board’s officials to enhance and fix the rentals on their own after every five years. He informed the Trust’s chairman that this amendment would pave the way for opening new avenues of corruption in the board and would result in phenomenal increase in rent.

He said that majority of the property of the board was in pitiable condition and no efforts have been made to renovate the decades old structures, which were abandoned by the migrating Hindus and other minority people after the creation of Pakistan.