Oppn prods govt for fresh amendment to Enemy Property Bill

The UPA government today introduced a fresh amendment to the controversial enemy property Bill, following stiff opposition by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party.

The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2010, seeks to do away with the jurisdiction of courts to decide “enemy property” disputes and make the central government the sole arbitrator of such assets. Enemy properties are those left behind by migrants to Pakistan during partition in 1947.

The current ordinance is set to lapse on Tuesday, after the UPA managers failed to convince several political parties to accept the amendments during the ongoing monsoon session.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram met leaders of Opposition parties for an emergency meeting this morning.

After the meeting ,Samajwadi Party, RJD, JD(U) and CPI(M) leaders gave a green signal to the government to bring another Ordinance soon after the current session to tide over the crisis. The new Ordinance will incorporate some changes proposed by the home minister in the Lok Sabha.

Accordingly, the Bill was withdrawn from Parliament. The BJP, the principal opposition party had demanded the government bring a new Bill and send it to a standing committee for consideration.

The original Bill that was introduced in Parliament met with resistance from many Muslim MPs. They wanted the government to redraft a clause, as they felt the proposed Bill would force them to prove their citizenship. Sources in the government suggested Chidambaram had differences of opinion on the issue with Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.

In the meeting, leaders like Basudeb Acharia of CPI(M) and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said many Muslims were apprehensive about the Bill and feel it might rob them of their properties.