A parliamentary panel examining a contentious Bill on enemy property today asked the government to explain what kind of laws exist in Pakistan and Bangladesh to deal with similar issues as officials from the Home and Law ministries briefed it on the measure.
The Select Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, headed by BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav, has been asked to carry out detailed scrutiny of the measure that seeks to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after the wars and amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968.
The central government had designated some properties belonging to nationals of Pakistan and China as "enemy properties" during the 1962, 1965 and 1971 conflicts. It vested these properties in the 'Custodian of Enemy Property for India', an office instituted under the central government.
The 1968 Act regulates these enemy properties, and lists the powers of the Custodian.
The panel has been tasked to scrutinise the Bill and submit its report in the opening week of the second part of the Budget session.
The first meeting of the panel today saw a detailed presentation about the Bill. The next meeting of the panel will be held on April 4.
Those who appeared before the panel included Utpal Chakraborty, Custodian of Enemy Properties for India and senior officers from the Home Ministry and Law Ministry.
Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who was to give a presentation, could not attend the meeting due to his engagement in Padma award ceremony, sources said.
Since it was the maiden meeting of the committee, which was set up on March 15, besides holding preliminary discussion on the Bill, it also discussed the manner in which it will take up the issue.
"It being the first meeting, members were briefed in detail about the salient features of the Bill by the officers. A number of members wanted to know what laws exist in Pakistan and Bangladesh to deal with similar situation there," a source said.
The panel members also wanted to know the details of such properties in India and asked the officials to come before the committee with a list of such properties.
The Upper House had on March 15 adopted a motion for
referring the Bill, which seeks to amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968, and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, as passed by Lok Sabha, to the panel.
The panel was asked to submit the report by the last day of the first week of the second part of the Budget session, which begins on April 25 and wraps up on May 13.
The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on March 9 with the government overruling demands by some opposition parties that it be sent to the Standing Committee.
In the wake of the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, there was migration of people from India to Pakistan and, under the Defence of India Rules framed under the Defence of India Act, the government took over the properties and companies of such persons as had taken Pakistani nationality.
The Enemy Property Act was enacted in 1968 and provided for the continuous vesting of enemy property with the Custodian of Enemy Property for India.
The amendments say that once an enemy property is vested in the Custodian, it shall continue to be vested in him as enemy property irrespective of whether the enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm has ceased to be an enemy due to reasons such as death, etc.
The Bill also ensures that the law of succession does not apply to enemy property; that there cannot be transfer of any property vested in the Custodian by an enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm and that the Custodian shall preserve the enemy property till it is disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
The amendments are aimed at plugging the loopholes in the Act to ensure that enemy properties that have been vested in the Custodian continue that way and do not revert to the enemy subject or enemy firm.
