Crackdown on tenancy law violators from today, directs Rawalpindi CPO

Police officials say cases will be registered against those who are found violating the law

RAWALPINDI: In the wake of a high profile case involving deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s aide Irfan Siddique and a tenancy agreement, the Rawalpindi police on Sunday announced a fresh campaign against tenancy law violators in the city.

Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) Captain (retired) Faisal Rana on Sunday directed police to launch the campaign from Monday (today) to ensure that the tenancy agreements are complete and registered as per the rent laws.

In a meeting with SPs, SDPOs and SHOs of the city at the CPO office on Sunday, Rana observed that precincts were not fully implementing the tenant registration process listed under the tenancy act which was not acceptable.

He directed officers to ensure the strict implementation of the law. He warned that those officers and officials who were found guilty of negligence in this regard will face stern departmental action.

A police spokesperson said that cases will be registered under the Punjab Information of Temporary Residence Ordinance 2015 against those who fail to register their tenants.

Under the ordinance, details of new tenants should be provided to the police within 24 hours of handing over possession of the property, he explained.

Curiously, the Punjab Police does not list any section where it tracks the data or performance of the force with regards to tenancy law violations. In the section for “crimes against property”, Punjab Police lists dacoity (314 cases registered until May 2019), robbery (6,350 cases registered until May 2019), theft as defined under section 382 of the Pakistan Penal Code (592 cases registered until May 2019), motor vehicle theft (8,600 cases registered until May 2019), cattle (2,838 cases registered until May 2019) and a section of ‘others’ (20,860 cases registered until May 2019) without any details. Some 71,352 cases were registered for the violation of local and special laws and another 66,662 miscellaneous cases registered without any details.

Crime statistics on the Islamabad Police website dated back to 2017 and only listed data for murder, kidnapping for ransom, dacoity, robbery, burglary, car theft and motorcycle theft.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2019.