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Rent Panel Orders Private School to Vacate Villa

The owner of the villa, who himself had studied in the same school, and on October 19, 2008, brought policemen to evict the 500 odd male and female students from the building as per the committee’s order.

The owner of the school reported to the Rent Disputes Settlement Committee, where he submitted a petition requesting it to postpone the implementation of the order until the end of the present academic year in the interest of the students.

The committee postponed executing the order till November 2, though the Federal Supreme Court issued a verdict saying that a school may not be closed during the academic year in the in the interest of the students.

It is based on the legal principle the school had put forward its argument to the committee on the basis of the fact that the Supreme Federal Court’s rulings has the power of the law, according to the counselor Abdul Aziz Al Khalid, director of the Fatwa and Legislation Department at the Ministry of Justice.

The UAE law always considers the public interest first in all its rulings and laws enforced in the country, he said.

“It was a hard day when we saw the owner of the villa along with the law-enforcement men entering the campus to carry out the order by force,” the executive principle of the school, Ali Ahmed, told Khaleej Times. “He did so, though he was once a student in the same school.”

The owner of the villa insisted on implementing the order, but I suggested to him that we pay him Dh500,000 as annual rent instead of Dh156,000,” Ahmed said.

“The owner of the villa refused the offer, which prompted us to resort as soon as possible to appeal to the committee requesting the postponement of execution of the eviction.”

He said: “The problem the school is facing now is that there is no other premises for relocation, and we are ready to pay any price for leasing a building so that the students can continue their studies uninterrupted. Also, the rise in rents has hit us badly. So far we have not informed the parents.”

He added: “Earlier, the owner of the villa had filed a lawsuit at the Rent Disputes Settlement Committee demanding the evacuation of the villa as he wanted to live in it along with his two brothers.”

“In his request to the committee, the complainant said the villa is owned by him and his two brothers, and that he had served a notice to the school management to evacuate the building.” “Since the villa was not evacuated earlier, he filed the case following which the committee ordered the management to evacuate the building.”

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