Enemy Property Bill gets House nod

Lok Sabha passes amendments cleared by Rajya Sabha last week

New Delhi: Parliament passed the much-delayed Enemy Property Bill on Tuesday, negating the rights of successors of those who had migrated to Pakistan and China during Partition and war, over the properties left behind by them in India.

The Parliament Tuesday passed the much-delayed Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, negating the rights of successors of those who had migrated to Pakistan and China during the Partition and wartime, over the properties left behind by them in India.

The bill, which amends the Enemy Property Act, 1968, was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha, incorporating the amendments made by the Rajya Sabha last week.

The Lok Sabha had passed the bill earlier, but certain amendments were introduced to it in the Rajya Sabha, on the recommendations

of a select committee. Those amendments had to be approved by the Lower House, which was done Tuesday.

RSP member N.K. Premachandran had moved a statutory amendment

seeking to introduce clarity with regard to those properties which had already been acquired by the heirs of the ‘enemy’ property owners, a reference to nationals of Pakistan and China. According to the bill, “enemy property” refers to any property belonging to, held or managed on behalf of an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm. The government vested these properties in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, an office instituted under the Central government.

After the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, the Enemy Property Act was enacted in 1968. “The purpose of bill is to clarify the 1968 Act. Inheritance law will not be applicable on Enemy Property. This will put an end to the longpending issue which should have happened in 2010 when the bill was introduced,” home minister Rajnath Singh said.