As the tragedy unfolds, media and activists jump in blaming Govt not for enabling initial loot through rent control act, but for not taking care of the private property grabbers.
We have an evil law, called rent control act. The law says that if a tenant breaks his word with the landlord and refuses to vacate the premises, the state, with its power of violence, will side with the lawbreaker, the tenant. Once a tenant has moved in, the building virtually belongs to him: he can bequeath tenancy to his children, and they to his grandchildren. He can sublet, and they can sublet further. The landlord can only curse himself, and his fate that he was born in a looter country.
Loot remains loot, even if sanctioned by law, and has the same consequences as loot unsanctioned by law.
But buildings have expiry dates. They age, they grow old. They collapse, and collapsing buildings, unlike the state, do not differentiate between the landlord and the tenant.
To fix one illegal act, Government came up with another illegal act: the building can be rebuilt by a developer, with unlimited FSI (the last position I know, may have changed), provided he gives flats in the new building to the landlord and all the tenants.
But even with this bribe of unlimited FSI, builders are hard to come by. In most cases, landlords are untraceable, having died cursing their fate. Original tenants are untraceable, having died after earning money in subletting. So paperwork is very difficult. Then there are all sorts of mafias who jump at the builder: municipal mafia, CRZ mafia, and mafia proper. And not every location is likely to give returns to the costs involved. So, without developers, many buildings collapse in wait. Tenants cannot move out, because who can give up that which was grabbed. And what they grabbed, they cannot afford to purchase anything close to that in entire Mumbai.
As the tragedy unfolds, media and activists jump in blaming Govt not for enabling initial loot through rent control act, but for not taking care of the private property grabbers.
Morality and ethics are not empty words. Morality and ethics, and only morality and ethics make life possible. Loot remains loot, even if sanctioned by law, and has the same consequences as loot unsanctioned by law.
why can not have arbritrator representing tennants and owners law should be fair to both sides who may ever breach contract shoukd be sevearly punished
All pervading corruption represented by the permissive culture of unjust enrichment and unlimited greed must necessarily visit us in the form of death–which, the rich and powerful (like the politicians, bureaucrats, the uniformed killers/goons called the police, the celebrities of the filmdom, sports world, etc.,) are convinced, are meant only for the lesser mortals. Let us not weep over such deaths necessarily emanating from greed.