What Is Enemy Property – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

The news

• Government has announced the formation of 2 committees and a Group of Ministers (GoM) that will monitor the disposal of enemy properties

1. GoM – headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah
2. A committee under co-chairmanship of Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla
3. A Core Group of Secretaries on Asset Monetisation (CGAM) under chairmanship of the cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba

What is enemy property? 

• Enemy properties are those properties that were left behind by people who migrated to Pakistan since Partition and to China after the 1962 Sino-Indian war
• Enemy property refers to any property belonging to, held or managed on behalf of an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm
• These could be movable or immovable properties
• A law to regulate/manage these properties was brought in 1968 (Enemy property Act)
• This act was amended in 2017 to ensure that successors of those who migrated to Pakistan and China will have no claim over the properties left behind in India
• Custodian of Enemy Property for India under The Enemy Property Act
• These “enemy properties” were vested by the central government in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India

 How many such properties exist?

• 9,280 – properties left behind by Pakistani nationals
• 126 – properties left behind by Chinese nationals
• The estimated value of all enemy properties is approximately Rs 1 lakh crore
• Besides, total 6,50,75,877 shares in 996 companies of 20,323 shareholders are under custody of Custodian of Enemy Property for India
• Of the total properties left behind by those who took Pakistani citizenship, 4,991 are located in Uttar Pradesh (highest in the country), West Bengal (2,735) and Delhi 487

• The highest number of properties left by Chinese nationals is in Meghalaya (57)

 Recent orders of Govt  regarding Enemy properties

• In 2018,the government earned Rs 700 crore through the first ever sale of ‘enemy shares’
• In 2019,Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had allowed state governments to put to “public use” some enemy properties

• In February 2019, government had constituted high-level committee to recommend quantum and price or price band for sale of enemy shares, worth Rs 3,000 crore

 Why the impetus on enemy property? 

• Slowing economy has put pressure on government finances
• Alternate methods of revenue generation
• These properties are mostly lying unused and undeveloped – their sale could revive their fortunes too

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