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Consumer rights law to safeguard tenants

Sohel Parvez
Rental ads posted by house owners at East Tejturi Bazar in the capital.
Tenants and home buyers are likely to get quick remedy against violation of their rights by house owners and realtors as the consumer watchdog is set to include them under its purview.
The Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) says it seeks to incorporate 25 services, including property rental, real estate, and mobile banking and online services such as e-commerce, in the existing Consumers' Rights Protection Act 2009 so that it can resolve issues in these areas.
“We have taken the initiative as we get complaints from many consumers against providers of numerous services," said DNCRP Director General Md Shafiqul Islam Laskar.
“But we cannot do anything about these complaints as the existing law allows us to look after consumer rights violation in 10 areas. Inclusion of these services will enable us to protect consumers' rights better."
The 10-year old consumer rights protection office has already sent the final draft of the revised law to the commerce ministry.
Currently, the DNCRP looks after consumer rights in the areas, namely transport, telecom, water supply and sewerage, energy, gas and electricity, construction, hotel and restaurant, and healthcare services.
The move comes at a time when rights of tenants are least respected by home owners for weak enforcement of the existing house rent control law and lengthy procedure for resolution of cases in courts.
Prof Nazrul Islam, chairman of the Centre for Urban Studies, Dhaka, said no recent estimate was available on the ratio of house owners and tenants in the capital.
But a majority of more than 1 crore people living in the two Dhaka city corporations are
tenants, he said.
“Tenant rights are yet to be established here. In this regard, inclusion of house rental may be beneficial for tenants," he said.
Lawyer Manzill Murshid, president of the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), said many tenants do not want to go to courts to seek redress because of lengthy process of resolution.
"If house rental is included in the consumers' rights law, tenants will get quick relief from their
problems and many consumers will also seek redress at the consumers' rights body," Murshid said. The lawyer moved at the High Court on behalf of a writ filed by the HRPB in April 2010, seeking to prevent the capital's house owners from arbitrarily raising and taking rent in advance.
He says there is a law on the real estate sector to protect the interests of home buyers. If there is any violation, one can file cases with courts, he added.
Apart from real estate and property rental, the DNCRP also seeks to include tailoring, beauty parlour, jewellery, hajj agency, recruiting agency, travel agency, courier service, education, daycare service, recreational centre, laundry, catering service, cooperative society, cable operator and insurance in the consumer rights law.
"We expert that the law would be revised by this year,’ Laskar said.
Ghulam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, says the rights of consumers are violated everywhere.
"There is no doubt about it. So, there is a need to expand the reach of the law. But inclusion of new areas under the jurisdiction of the law will not bring any meaningful result if the DNCRP’s workforce and capacity is not increased," he said. "The DNCRP is under-staffed. So, its workforce and capacity should be enhanced so that it can carryout its duty properly."