Centre Amends Guidelines For Disposal Of Enemy Property Worth Less Than Rs 1 Crore In Rural Areas

The Centre has amended the guidelines for disposal of the enemy property worth below Rs 1 crore located in rural areas and such property valued below Rs 5 crore in urban areas.

Assets left behind by people who have taken citizenship of Pakistan and China — mostly between 1947 and 1962 — are called enemy property.

In a notification, the Home Ministry said while disposing of the enemy property valued below Rs 1 crore in a rural area and valued below Rs 5 crore in an urban area, the custodian shall offer of purchase to the occupant first and if the occupant refuses the offer of purchase, then the enemy property shall be disposed of in accordance with already laid down norms — by inviting tender or by holding public action.

The home ministry also clarified that the 'rural area' means any area in a state except those areas covered by any urban local body or a Cantonment Board. Similarly, an 'urban area' means any area within the limits of a municipal corporation or municipality, or the central government may, having regard to the population, concentration of industries, need for proper planning of the area and other relevant factors, by general or special order, declare to be an urban area.

The government has vested the enemy 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, which regulates such properties and lists the custodian's powers.

There are a total of 12,611 establishments called enemy properties, roughly estimated to be worth over Rs 1 lakh crore, in the country, officials said.