Baba Saheb Ambedkar was in a dilemma about where to stay, he failed to find a single landlord willing to rent him accommodation, despite his status as a military secretary to Maharaja of Baroda.

Then, he found himself at a Parsi-owned inn that was only open to members of the Parsi community. With no other option, and perhaps recalling how his friend Naval Bhathena had embraced him without prejudice, he decided to bribe the receptionist and have his name entered in the register as a Parsi. The deception, however, failed. On the eleventh day of his stay, some local Parsis found out Ambedkar’s caste and, sticks in hand, stormed the inn. Ambedkar has described the dramatic scene in front of his room: ‘[They] fired a volley of questions. “Who are you? Why did you come here? How dare you take a Parsi name? You scoundrel! You have polluted the Parsi inn….”

They issued an ultimatum. They must not find me in the inn in the evening. I must pack off. They held out dire consequences, and left. Ambedkar left and spent the night in a park nearby, unable to sleep. He sat under a tree with his suitcase, bedding, and all his certificates and books strewn around him on the ground. Despite his Columbia degree, this was what life in Baroda had reduced him to.

‘Throughout the day I searched for a house to live in but miserably failed to get any place to hide my head. I approached my friends but all turned me down on some plea or the other, expressing their inability to accommodate me. I was utterly disappointed and exhausted. What to do next? I just could not decide. Frustrated and exhausted, I quietly sat down at one place, with tears flowing out of my eyes. Seeing no hope of getting a house, and no alternative but to quit, I tendered my resignation, he recalled.

More than 70 years have passed, nothing has changed. The villainous need to create an outcaste within a society remains alive.

I am Advocate Priya Sogani, staying on rent since 10 years in Ahmedabad, and fighting for tenants living on rent with Flat and Flatmates.

Having problems with a Paying Guest accommodation does not mean removing them from roots from the residential society, like weeds from a garden.

A middle ground of conflict resolution and mediation to create rules to maintain hygiene and safety is the need of the hour.

THE GUJARAT PROVINCIAL MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS ACT, 1949 Section.307 to prevent overcrowding. The minimum usable area for one Paying Guest shall be 50 sq. ft. with adequate provision of toilet as per norms of Public Health Department i.e. one W.C. for five persons.

Anti-discrimination Bill 2016 remains tabled in the parliament which includes the clause –

S2(x) “landlord” includes, but is not limited to, any person who is a landholder, seller, lessor, proprietor, housing society, hotel, motel, innkeeper, owner, estate or letting agency, board and lodgings provider or any other person providing residential, commercial, agricultural, or industrial property, for sale, lease or rent for temporary or permanent occupation or use;

S6(1). Direct Discrimination

Every conduct, rule, regulation, policy, criterion, practice or structure shall be prima facie directly discriminatory if:

Illustration 4. – A housing society advertisement offers apartments on rent to married couples. This is prima facie direct discrimination in relation to marital status.

This is clearly defined as direct discrimination.

Provided also that a finding of direct discrimination under clause (ii) of sub-section (1) shall not be disputed merely by showing that the relevant stereotypical assumption is supported by statistics

So, if someone tells you, bachelors create nuisance and uses examples. So do miscreants in jail, men and women alike, there are laws and ways to protect oneself from nuisance. It is not an argument to ban an entire class of people from right to housing.

S7(1). Indirect Discrimination:

Illustration 2. – A housing society only lets apartments to persons with a Master’s degree. In the relevant geographical area, persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes are substantially less likely to have Masters degrees compared with others. This is prima facie indirect discrimination in relation to caste.

Remember Rohith Vermula? It’s been 7 years.

Sanwarmal Kejriwal vs. Vishwa Cooperative Housing Society – Hon’ble Supreme Court upheld the owner’s right to keep tenant of his choice.

Model Tenancy Act, 2020: Only Tamil Nadu has succeeded in implementing the act. They created a RENT AUTHORITY OFFICER IN EACH DISTRICT – The security deposit of a tenant becomes secure. The property of landlord is safe. Rental Agreement gets registered.

The resentment against Bachelors as Paying Guests is certainly increasing. Only by increasing the accountability of the landlord will change occur. The society cannot ask a tenant to leave unless he has committed an offense under the Indian Law.

Existing rental laws have outlived their age, they overlap with each other and are used by authorities to exploit the innocent tenants who are not local domiciles of the state but are here to study or work.

A PG is under the control and administration of the local municipal corporation or the Nagar Nigam who have no data and run no regular checks.

Gujarat Cooperative Housing Society (Amended) Act, 2017 has stated that no rule passed by society is valid unless a resolution is passed following the rules given in the act and registered with the registrar of the district. No registrar can allow a resolution that is against Article 15 of India.

What if a criminal has purchased a flat? Did you do each resident’s police verification? Just a joke, just a joke…

वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्

The World is one family

Sources:

• Moon, Dr, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Vol. 12, pp. 661-91.
• Hari Narake, N. G. Kamble, Dr M. L. Kasare, and Ashok Godghate (eds.), Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Vol. 17, Part III, Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1979, p. 110.
• Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Ambedkar: A Life, p. 17-18

– Adv. Priya Sogani