The government on Wednesday approved amendments to the Enemy Property Act to ensure, among other issues, that such property is divested only to the owner or his lawful heir and continues to vest in the custodian till it is divested by the Centre.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the proposal of the home ministry to introduce the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Second Bill, 2010, to make amendments to the Enemy Property Act, 1968.
An attempt to make amendments to the Act during the monsoon session of Parliament failed due to repeated pleas and lobbying of cross-party Muslim MPs, including several ministers, who pleaded to ensure that legal heirs were allowed to hold the property of their parents or grandparents who had migrated to Pakistan.
Through an Act in 1968, the government had declared the properties left behind by people who migrated to Pakistan during Partition as ‘enemy properties’.
“The fresh amendments that were placed before Parliament, however, have been incorporated in the new Bill. There is no change in the content of the Bill,” Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.
The proposal for fresh amendments provide for ensuring that the enemy property shall continue to vest in the custodian till it is divested by the central government and the enemy property could be divested only to the owner or his lawful heir.
According to the proposed amendments, if the enemy property was divested from the custodian before July 2, 2010, it shall stand transferred to and vest or continue to vest in the custodian.
If, however, the enemy property was divested from the custodian by a valid order made under Section 18 before July 2, 2010, or where the property had been returned to the owner or his lawful heir by an order of the court; and if the lawful heir was a citizen of India by birth, such enemy property would continue to remain with such a person.
