The Rent Control Act, 1948 was enacted with the objective of safeguarding and protecting tenants from arbitrary rent increases and evictions. The Act ensures that tenants cannot be evicted from the rented premises, without sufficient cause. As such, it contains various provisions for tenants facing eviction.
The Andhra Pradesh Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1960, which was in force in the erstwhile combined state of Andhra Pradesh, has since been adapted by the new State of Telangana, under section 101 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
Subsequently, the Andhra Pradesh Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1960 was repealed and replaced by the Residential Premises Tenancy Act ,2017(the Act) in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Act, while providing some protections to tenants through tenancy agreements and through provisions for inheritability of tenancy, does not adequately address the matter of funeral rites in tenancy premises.
This lacuna is particularly egregious as objections of Land Lords, due to superstitious beliefs, regarding conducting funeral rites in the rented premises directly violate the right to privacy and dignity of the tenant.
Various instances of tenants being forced to keep the bodies of the deceased outside the rented premises exist. For instance, on September 15, 2017, at Venkateshwar Nagar in Kukatpally area of Hyderabad, A young mother, grieving the death of her 10 years old son was forced to stay on the street all night with her son’s dead body, as her landlord did not think it was auspicious to have a dead body inside the house.
Currently, if the landlord disallows the dead body of the tenant into the rental premises, there is no recourse under the to the Act.
Keeping this situation in mind, it is necessary that a provision that gives the right to conduct the funeral of the tenant or their dependants who resided with them in the rented premises must be incorporated in the Act. Additionally, it is suggested that a penal provision against the violation of this right be added in the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
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