By The Hindu Bureau

Copyright thehindu

The Commercial Building Owners Association has sought the immediate implementation of the Model Tenancy Act (MTA), which was approved by the Union government in 2020.

Addressing the media here on Thursday (September 18), State committee office-bearers of the association said that MTA had already been implemented in 15 States but, unfortunately, had not yet been enacted in Kerala. This failure had led to a daily increase in the number of unresolved tenancy-related cases in Kerala’s courts.

They said that the notion that the MTA was anti-tenant was factually incorrect. Any impartial analysis would show the act helped create a new, mutually-agreed-upon, and business-friendly framework.

About 80% of commercial establishments and other businesses in Kerala operate from rented buildings. However, the authorities consistently ignored the building owners’ needs, while granting special privileges to local and large foreign corporate entities, the office-bearers said.

The association also urged the State government to consider several other demands, including providing a registration tax exemption for land acquired to build commercial properties, addressing the imbalance in property tax rates, and completely withdrawing the ‘one-time’ tax.

Association State president P.P. Alikoya and general secretary Ashokan Veettil were present.