COMMON CAUSE Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this public interest writ petition the petitioner. CommonCause, a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, seeks adirection to the first and the second respondents. Union of India through theSecretary, Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, and the Union of Indiathrough the Secretary, Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs respectively,to issue a notificatioin in the Official Gazette notifying the date on which the DelhiRent Act, 1995 (Act No. 33 of 1995) (for short 'the new Rent Act') shall come into force.The facts lie in a narrow compass.

(2.) . Home is an eternal quest of all mankind. Law which encourages construction of houses to meet one of the basic demands of habitat is the paramount requirementin this country. Realising this need and voicing its concern regarding the acuteshortage of housing, the Supreme Court in Prabhakaran Nair etc. etc. v. State ofTamil Nadu and Others, AIR 1987 Supreme Court 2117, expressed the necessity fora national housing policy. In this regard it observed as follows :

(3.) . Five years after the decision rendered by the Supreme Court in Prabhakaran'scase (supra), the national housing policy was laid before both the Houses ofParliament. The policy was considered and adopted by the Parliament. Consequentthereto a model Rent Control Bill was drafted by the Government of India with theapproval of the representatives of the State Governments. The model bill wascirculated to all the State Governments including the Governments of the UnionTerritories, and the same was also tabled before the Parliament. On 5/02/1994the President of India assented to the Constitution (Seventy-first Amendment) Act,1994, in order to enable the State Governments to set up State level Rent Tribunalsfor speedy disposal of rent cases. This was with a view to exclude the jurisdiction ofthe Courts which are otherwise over crowded and the rent litigation is not beingdisposed of speedily. However, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India wasnot excluded.