In a presentation before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence on 'management of defence land', top Ministry officials said that about 12000 acres of its 17.54 lakh acre land are encroached.
Elaborating on the encroachment pattern, the Ministry said 92.5 per cent of its encroached land was under illegal possession for over 20 years.
Against the backdrop of various government departments and agencies seeking defence land for their use, the ministry told the panel that it has "no surplus land" and certain land has been kept vacant for "operational reasons".
It said the three services have projected requirement for additional land.
The officials said camping grounds and abandoned airfields are being used for mobilisation and training and some have been kept for "future use".
The Railways has recently asked the Defence Ministry to provide some land in Meerut and Ambala cantonments for its Dedicated Freight Corridor.
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It said fencing of vacant land, developing isolated plots and regular inspection were some of the measures it was taking to protect its asset against encroachment.
The ministry is in possession of a total of 17.54 lakh acres of land, out of which 15.96 lakh is outside cantonment areas and the rest under 62 cantonments spread across India.
On the issue of mutation (change in nature) of land in favour of the Defence Ministry, the officials told the panel that about 80 per cent of the land has already been mutated.
The Defence Ministry had recently issued a notice to Maharashtra government and scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society asking them to hand over the possession of the land, where the building stands in south Mumbai, to it.