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Context:

• The Union government has begun to e-auction many of the 12,611 enemy properties across the country, out of which 126 belong to Chinese citizens. .

Enemy Property Act, 1968

• The Act enabled the state to regulate and appropriate real estate belonging to those who had left India and got citizenship of countries it has gone to war with: Pakistan and China.
• The word “enemy” signifies any country that has committed an act of aggression or declared war against the Union of India, and “property” is immovable assets and all negotiable instruments such as shares, debentures, and other commerce.
• These ‘enemy properties’ could be “any property that belongs to, is held or managed on behalf of an enemy, an enemy subject, or an enemy firm”.

The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017

• It expanded the meaning of the term “enemy subject”, and “enemy firm” to include the legal heir and successor of an ‘enemy’, whether a citizen of India or a citizen of a country which is not an enemy; and the succeeding firm of an ‘enemy firm’, irrespective of the nationality of its members.
• The Act also made it clear that once a property is declared ‘enemy property’, it remains so.
• Amendment nullified a Supreme Court judgment which ruled in favour of Mohammed Amir Mohammad Khan, son of the erstwhile Raja of Mahmudabad.

Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) ●It is a department under the Ministry of Home Affairs formed after the Indo-Pak war of 1965 and the two Indo-China wars in 1962 and 1967. ●It is empowered by the Enemy Property Act, 1968 to take custody of enemy properties in India and e-auction them.

SC ruling in Mohammed Amir Mohammad Khan case

• Though the erstwhile Raja of Mahmudabad took Pakistani citizenship, Amir stayed behind as an Indian citizen, and asserted claims over various properties that were originally in his family’s name.
• After a prolonged legal struggle of over three decades, the Supreme Court ruled in his favour in 2005, declaring him the rightful owner, even though they have been declared ‘enemy properties’.

Issues with the enemy property governance

Vacant properties:

• Many properties lay vacant and unused.
• Butler Palace, built on the banks of the Gomti river in the 1910s, was originally constructed in a mix of Indo-Mughal and Rajasthani styles as the official residence of the commissioner of Avadh, Harcourt Butler, in Lucknow. It has remained empty since the 1960s, and has been branded ‘haunted’, by the Lucknavis — either by ghosts of the past or addicts of the present.

Denial of rights:

• Many people are living as tenants for 70-80 years. But they still have no rights over the property.

New agreement

• They are all nervous after receiving renewed agreements. The proposed arrangement by the government is only for 11 months, and it adds that on the expiry of this period or an earlier termination, the licensee shall hand over the property to the licensor, which is CEPI.

Enemy properties in India

• In 2020, the Union government set up a Group of Ministers led by Home Minister Amit Shah to monitor the disposal of ‘enemy properties’.
• The value of the earlier 9,000 surveyed ‘enemy properties’ across the country was estimated to be ₹1 lakh crore. Later, over 3,000 such properties were identified, taking the numbers above 12,000.
• Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of enemy properties, at 6,041, followed by West Bengal at 4,354. Lucknow itself has 361 such properties, with 105 occupied, the highest in U.P. and all in disrepair.

How properties are disposed of ?

• The guidelines for the disposal of enemy properties stipulate that if the property is valued below ₹1 crore, the custodian must offer the occupant the choice of purchase. If they refuse, the property will be e-auctioned.
• Those valued at over ₹1 crore but less than ₹100 crore will be disposed of by the CEPI through e-auction or through a rate determined by the Enemy Property Disposal Committee, unless the Central government chooses to retain it.
• All auctions take place through the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited, a Central public sector undertaking.
• In 2023, the Central government earned over ₹3,400 crore from the disposal of movable ‘enemy properties’

MSTC Limited (formerly known as Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited) ●It is a central public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Steel, Government of India. ●Its corporate office is in Kolkata, West Bengal with regional branch offices in various other cities. ●It is involved in diversified e-commerce services. It renders service to various e-commerce sectors, including e-auction, e-procurement, high sea sales, e-sales, and retail software.

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ENEMY PROPERTIES

Sources:

• https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/1582?view_type=browse
• https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/uttar-pradesh/when-a-home-is-enemy-property/article68400176.ece#:~:text=These%20'enemy%20properties'%20could%20be%20%E2%80%9Cany%20property,an%20enemy%20subject%2C%20or%20an%20enemy%20firm%E2%80%9D.

PRACTICE QUESTION Q.With reference to “enemy properties” as defined in “Enemy property act, 1968”, consider the following statements: 1. Enemy properties are properties left by Indians in enemy countries after migrating to India. 2. The Supreme Court has held that even the heir are rightful owners of the enemy properties. 3. Enemy properties valued at over ₹1 crore but less than ₹100 crore can be disposed of by the Custodian of Enemy Property for India through e-auction. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Answer: B