Police initiate special tenant-verification drive

Tribune News Service

Patiala, August 22

Tightening the noose around house owners who had given their houses or paying guest accommodation on rent to tenants without police verification, the Patiala police have started a special tenant verification drive.

In the past fortnight, the district police have conducted surveys of over 200 such houses and warned the owners to either get their tenants registered or face the music.

“The house owners must inform us about anyone staying as a paying guest in their house. In case of any crime, if the tenant is found guilty, we will book the owner of the house as well if they fail to get tenant verification done,” said a senior police officer.

While the district administration has launched various drives for verification of migrants time and again, there is no check on unidentified tenants and paying guests in the residential areas as landlords were reluctant to get verification of their tenants done.

The recent case of Sandeep Sharma, an alleged LeT terrorist arrested in Srinagar, had also stayed in Patiala and the police were still clueless about his stay in the city.

Recently, the Patiala Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate had passed written orders for verification of tenants from outside the district at the nearest police station within 15 days. However, implementation of the order has remained ineffective. Following this, the police have now decided to check all such houses housing tenants without informing the authorities.

A senior official stated that many criminal cases could be cracked and many more could be avoided if landlords get verification of their tenants done and pass on the correct information to the local police station.

“Landlords are unwilling to provide information about their tenants to avoid power bills at commercial tariff. But they should understand that police verification of tenants is an absolute must for their own safety as well,” an official said.

“We have informed the Urban Estate and Officers Colony police to check all such houses and take action in case of violation,” the official said. A few months ago, the then Patiala SSP in written orders to all SHOs had stated that they should comply with the directions to ensure that no house owner has any unidentified tenant in their house.

“Any person living without verification could pose a threat to law and order so it is necessary to get them registered. A sustained drive is the need of the hour and all police stations should immediately start working on it,” he said.