In India, Republic Day commemorates the date on which the Constitution of India came into force replacing the Government of India Act 1935 as the governing document of India on 26 January 1950. The 26th of January was chosen to honour the memory of the declaration of independence of 1930.

NRIs to get voting rights: PM at 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
January 08, 2012 15:17 IST

Addressing the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Jaipur, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that Non-Resident Indians would be allowed to vote and participate in the election process.

"Pursuant to the law that was enacted to enable non-resident Indians to vote in our national elections, the government has issued notifications for registration of overseas Indians under the Representation of People Act, 1950. This constitutes the first major step to enable Indians resident abroad to participate in our election processes," Dr Singh said.

He said that the government and people of India recognised and greatly valued the important role being played by Indian communities living abroad. "We believe that the Indian diaspora has much more to contribute to the building of modern India. We propose to facilitate, encourage and promote this engagement. Over the past year we have taken a number of steps towards this end," he said.

http://gulfnews.com/business/property/uae/failure-to-register-rent-contract-will-result-in-fines-for-tenants-1.957466

Dubai: Registration of rental contracts with the Dubai Land Department (DLD) will soon become a pre-requisite to accessing other government services, according to a top property regulator.

The Land Department and its regulatory body — the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) — has been trying to implement the system through a registration portal — Ejari.com.

The move will help the government to monitor the property market and offer better insights through its rental index while ensuring all tenants pay their housing fees regularly. Currently, these contracts are processed by the landlords. The rental data fed into the system is used to calculate the housing fees that are included on utility bills.

Registration of residential and commercial lease contracts through Ejari is mandatory and failure to comply may lead to a penalty, Gulf News has learnt. A Dh160 fee is chargeable to register a lease agreement with Ejari. The fee is payable by either party to the agreement.

Check with landlord

"Landlords and tenants share an obligation to abide by the spirit as much as the letter of the law," said Marwan Bin Ghulaita, CEO of Rera. "We encourage all tenants to make sure their agreement with the landlord is registered."

The Ejari registration will be mandatory to obtain utility services. If the contract is not registered, transactions could be delayed at several government departments, principally the Dubai Economic Department and the Residence and Foreign Affairs Department.

"With the current e-link among government bodies, this would be the first step in most transactions," Bin Ghulaita added.

Trends indicated by the Ejari data will be reflected in the rental index and will have a crucial role in updating it. Information about rental levels in specific areas, the demographic base and the kinds of property formats in favour can also be found.

"The decision is effective on every new contract to be signed in 2012; however, Rera is prepared to allow individual tenants with existing contracts to wait until these are due for renewal before seeking registration," Bin Ghulaita added.

"This regulation was announced a year ago and notices were sent out to parties concerned that the new rule would be effective by 2012. The Department will not accept any contract unless it is registered with Ejari."

According to the Rera, the rule applies to landlords and tenants in Dubai, real estate companies entrusted with the management of realty projects on behalf of others, as well as official agents of owners of commercial complexes and shopping centres.

User-friendly portal
The application is user-friendly and one can register details easily, the Rera official added.

Faisal Mohammad, a Dubai resident, told Gulf News: "We feel this is a good step forward for the rental market. It will make the market more transparent and also clear up a lot of the grey areas regarding landlord and tenant relationships."

On the other hand, another resident, Mahera Alam, said: "Property owners need to start registering all tenancies so that they conform to the law, and not negatively affect tenants."

Bin Ghulaita said that with Ejari, both ends of a rental contract are uniformly served, providing protection to landlords and management companies, as well as to tenants. "The system also serves to establish clear payment terms to protect the interests of all parties when advance rental payments are made," he added.

The main benefits are by way of uniformity in the approach, which creates a standardisation of rental contracts, and its ease of use. However, Bin Ghulaita added: "In case of disputes, the data entered into the system would be recognised by the courts and considered eligible as evidence."

For Basem Jouni, Ejari will serve to maintain a trusted regulatory environment for the local real estate industry. "It's a good sign that legislation and systems are gradually catching up with what's been happening," he said.

Jouni said that it would be much better if all processes could be done online, without the need to visit the Rera office.

Ministry says rule cancelled with enforcement of new labour laws; Residents on family visa can seek employment

The UAE has cancelled a labour rule requiring private sector workers to get a "no-objection" letter from their employers when shifting to a new sponsor, the semi official daily Alittihad reported on Tuesday.

A labour ministry committee holding its weekly open-day meeting on Monday said such a condition had been dropped since the country began enforcing new labour and sponsorship laws early this year, the paper said.

"After considering many applications during its open-day meeting, the committee made clear that the so-called no-objection condition granted by an employer to a worker seeking to shift sponsorship no longer exists," it said.

"The committee stressed that no employer has the right to give such a letter to any worker now that the new job and sponsorship rules are enforced."

Family visa, can work

Residents who are on their family visa have a right to seek employment under contracts of both, limited and indefinite durations, just like any other person in the UAE.

This was stated during a weekly meeting of the Ministry of Labour and representatives of various institutions on Monday, according to an Al Khaleej report.

A no-objection certificate for such work permits has to be cleared and granted by the ministry, but officials clarified that there is some confusion at typing centres, that those on family visas can only work on fixed-term contracts.

An official said: "This is not true."

Officials added that the ministry is the only body authorised to apply a six-month ban in the absence of en employee violating a two-year contract.

This came in response to a complaint submitted by a worker, where he said the company canceled his labor card and claimed to impose a ban after he was terminated by the facility.