Govt lands given to refugees from Pakistan made free-hold

Seventy one years after the refugees (mostly Sindhis and Sikhs) who fled west Pakistan after the partition of 1947 and settled in camps on government land allotted to them, will now be able to transfer their properties and make use of it for commercial and other purposes.

In a major decision, the state cabinet approved the proposal to decontrol the lands given to these refugees from Pakistan from property transfer and use. The state cabinet approved the proposal to upgrade the land classification from Class B lands to Class A lands. The decision will impact about 30 such settlements in Mumbai, Thane and rest of Maharashtra. The land owners will not require to seek prior approval for transfer, mortgage and change of use.

In a official statement issued, the state and central government created a Compensation Pool by adding to the properties left behind by those who had migrated to Pakistan during partition in 1947. Thereafter, as per The Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954, the government allotted lands to the refugees.

Earlier, in many places the land was classified as Class B in the land records which meant that the government was still the original land owner. Now a competent authority will review of all such lands allotted by the government to the refugees if it is found that the land records reveal that the classification of the said land is still categorised as Class B. The cabinet decided to register such lands as Class A (Free Hold). The decision means that from now on will be free from controls of transfer and use.

During the bloody partition of 1947 migrants from what was then known as West Pakistan came and settled in camps or colonies in Mumbai in areas like Sion-Koliwada, Mulund, Sindhi Camp and Thakkar Bappa Colony (both in Chembur) and Wadia Trust Estate Refugee Camp in Kurla. While some refugees settled in other parts of the state like Dhule, Jalgaon, Pune, Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Amravati, Ulhasnagar, Akola, Washim, Yavatmal and Nagpur.

In a major decision, the state cabinet approved the proposal to decontrol the lands given to the refugees from west Pakistan from property transfer and use. The decision will impact about 30 such settlements in Mumbai, Thane and rest of Maharashtra. The land owners will not have to seek prior approval for transfer, mortgage and change of use.