SAHIWAL: Additional District and Sessions Judge Naeem Akhter Sheikh on Wednesday rejected an appeal filed by the Sahiwal regional passport office and directed its administration either to pay rent to the landlord or vacate the building.

The court declared the passport office defaulter under Section 19 of The Punjab Rental Premises Act 2009 (TPRPA) for not paying 13-month rent to landlord Ghulam Moeenuddin Khan.

Reports said a rent agreement expired in October 2013 but passport office had been occupying the residential building since then without paying the rent.

Landlord Moeen of Pakpattan had purchased a house located at Canal View Colony, Pakpattan Chowk, from Abdul Majeed. The house had been rented out to regional passport office since October 2010. Under the agreement, the office was paying Rs56,250 monthly rent to the buyer. In December 2012, Moeen conveyed to the passport office authorities that he would not extend the three-year agreement expiring in September 2013 and demanded vacation of his building.

Moeen told Dawn that he was facing problem in receiving rent on time. In January 2013, he filed a case through his council Anwarul Haq under Section 19, TPRPA with a sessions court against the passport office for not paying rent regularly. The case proceedings continued for 21 months. During that period the three-year agreement expired and passport office stopped paying the rent.

The sessions court directed the passport office to clear dues worth Rs731,250 or vacate the building by Oct 27, 2014. The passport office challenged the verdict and moved an appeal with Additional District and Sessions Judge Naeem Akhter Shaikh.

The court directed the respondent to pay the rent by Nov 26 otherwise his appeal will be dismissed under the law.

Talking to this correspondent Passport Office Director Rana Farooq said: “We are looking for some alternative place.”

Published in Dawn, November 27th , 2014