The Hindu : Front Page : Cabinet nod for new Enemy Property Bill

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 21, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Cabinet nod for new Enemy Property Bill

Smita Gupta

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved yet another version of the controversial Enemy Property Bill to replace the ordinance that lapsed on September 6. It is based on a fresh proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Second Bill, 2010, will now be introduced in the winter session of Parliament.

The four-decade-old Enemy Property Act bars Indian legal heirs from inheriting the properties of relatives who migrated to Pakistan after Partition. The Custodian of Enemy Property for India, a government department, is empowered to appropriate the property.

BJP stand

The Raja of Mahmudabad, M.A. Mohammad Khan, could regain his ancestral property, spread across Uttar Pradesh, if this Bill is passed in its current form. But with the BJP having made it clear in the last session that it would not pass the Bill unless it replicated the ordinance that was promulgated on July 2, and which led to the Raja losing the property he secured through a Supreme Court judgment in 2005, the uncertainty will continue.

In all likelihood, the Bill will be referred to a standing committee after it is introduced in Parliament.

The amendments say: “If the property had been returned to the owner or his lawful heir by an order of the court; and if the lawful heir is a citizen of India by birth, such enemy property will continue to remain with such person.” But it prohibits future claimants to such property from taking recourse to the civil courts and, in effect, invalidates the Supreme Court judgment. It also wants to enact the law with retrospective effect, from July 2, 2010. It will be the custodian who will be the final arbiter of who gets property, not the courts.

Till the Bill is passed, the ordinance will remain in force, with Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati giving a strong opinion in favour of the custodian retaining control of the enemy property till the government takes a final decision.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page