To
The Chief Reporter/ News Editor,
The Committee for the Repeal of Delhi Rent Control Act (CRDRCA) has been campaigning for rental law reform in Delhi for about two decades. The CRDRCA welcomes the judgement of Delhi High Court delivered by Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani on 2 July 2025 in the case of Mrs. Madhurbhashani & Ors. The Delhi High Court is crying itself hoarse for repeal of archaic rental law since elite class tenants are paying a pittance as rent to landlords who are struggling to make both ends meet.
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has been urging state governments to adopt the Model Tenancy Act 2021. The Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 (DRC Act) is a central legislation and the Parliament has the power to repeal it. But the Central Govt. has chosen not to take action to implement its own policy in Delhi so far. Now that BJP is in power in both Delhi and Centre after almost two and a half decades this is the right time for the Central Govt. to ensure that Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 is repealed and tenancy laws reformed in Delhi.
Campaign by CRDRCA
The CRDRCA, comprising of women owners, had filed a case in DHC in 2010 challenging the constitutional validity of the whole DRC Act. But in 2019 a division bench of the DHC headed by Justice S. Ravindra Bhat (as he then was) passed an unreasoned judgement and refused to give any relief to the landlords. The violation of fundamental rights of the landlords were not deliberated upon at all in the said judgement. The judgement was a copy paste job of the petitioners’ arguments and respondents’ arguments with no analysis at all.
Ironically Justice S. Ravindra Bhat considered the law to be constitutional but Justice Bhambhani has aired a view which reflects the reality.
Thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Shobha Aggarwal
President, Committee for the Repeal of Delhi Rent Control Act
