AMMAN -- The Lower House on Wednesday postponed discussions over the Landlords and Tenants Law, after deputies disagreed over the constitutionality of some amendments recommended by the House Legal Committee.
At the session, Deputy Abdel Karim Dughmi (Mafraq, 1st District) claimed that the amendments were "unconstitutional", arguing that they changed the essence of the law, a move he said goes against a decision issued by the Higher Council for the Interpretation of the Constitution (HCIC) in 1955.
HCIC had ruled that the Lower House must not add new concepts or articles to the laws it examines, limiting its authority to what the government submits.
Deputy Mahmoud Kharabsheh (Balqa, 1st District) supported Dughmi's point of view, while MP Wafa Bani Mustafa (Jerash, 1st District) backed Balqa Deputy Mustafa Yaghi's argument for adopting the amendments.
Yaghi heads the House Legal Committee.
The committee amended the disputed articles of the law, including articles 5 and 7.
The first stipulates that tenants must renegotiate their contracts with their landlords under new conditions, and Article 7 says tenants' heirs are allowed to retain residential properties for only three years and commercial properties for six years following the tenant's death.
Yaghi countered Dughmi's argument, citing decision No. 4 of the Constitutional Court in 2012, which, he said, cancelled the HCIC's decision.
But the deputies failed to agree on the matter, prompting Lower House Speaker Saad Hayel Srour to suspend the session until this constitutional debate is resolved.
He called for a meeting between the Legal Committee and legal experts to sort out this issue before starting deliberations over this "sensitive" law.
Also during the session, the Lower House referred the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters between Jordan and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland to the legal committee for further study.
Deputies refused to endorse the agreement quickly, expressing fears that it was meant only to pave the way for the return of radical Muslim cleric Mahmoud Othman, known as Abu Qatada.
The British government has been unable to deport Abu Qatada, who was tried and convicted in absentia in Jordan on charges of terrorism, for many years.
However, other deputies supported the agreement, saying that it will allow Jordan to bring back certain public figures suspected of corruption.
© Jordan Times 2013
