Par panel seeks responses from states on 'Enemy Property' bill

A Parliamentary panel today sought written response of state governments to a Bill that seeks to guard against claims of succession or transfer of 'enemy' properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after the wars.
It also voiced displeasure over states not sending senior officials before it to present their views on the measure.
The Select Committee of Rajya Sabha headed by BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav, which is examining Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, has called Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi besides experts and stakeholders before it tomorrow to hear their views on the key bill.

The panel had called Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Delhi for today's meeting.
Most of the states had sent junior officers while some sent only their Resident Commissioners based in Delhi. Panel members took strong objection to this as it was also found that most of the officials were not well-prepared on the issue.
While the representative from Tamil Nadu cited upcoming Assembly elections as a reason for the Chief Secretary not being able to make it to the panel meeting, the UP representative sought more time to get the state government's view on the bill.

"We had called Chief Secretaries of these states to tell us about the existence of enemy properties in their states as well as the view point of the respective state governments on the enemy property bill. However, most officials came uninformed, which led to consternation among panel members," sources said.

The panel Chairman has now decided to call another meeting on April 19, making it clear that the Chief Secretaries or Revenue Secretaries of the states should be present
At its first meeting on March 28, the panel had asked the government to explain what kind of laws exist in Pakistan and Bangladesh to deal with similar issues as officials from the Home and Law ministries had briefed it on the measure.

Utpal Chakraborty, Custodian of Enemy Properties for India, and senior officers from the Home Ministry and Law Ministry had appeared before the panel then making a detailed representation on the measure.
The central government had designated some properties belonging to nationals of Pakistan and China as "enemy properties" during the 1962, 1965 and 1971 conflicts. It vested these properties in the 'Custodian of Enemy Property for India', an office instituted under the central government.
The 1968 Act regulates these enemy properties, and lists the powers of the Custodian.
The Upper House had on March 15 adopted a motion for referring the Bill, which seeks to amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968, and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, as passed by Lok Sabha, to the select committee.

The panel has been tasked to scrutinise the Bill and submit its report in the opening week of the next Parliament session which begins from April 25.