Value of 12,426 Immovable Enemy Properties in India Estimated at ₹ 1 Lakh Crore

NEW DELHI: As many as 12,426 immovable properties across the country valued at around Rs 1 lakh crore as well as enemy shares of 302 companies are currently vested in the custodian of enemy property of India, the home ministry said in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
These enemy properties were once owned by persons who migrated to Pakistan and China decades ago.

Sharing details of enemy properties in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, MoS (home) G Kishan Reddy said the maximum of these properties were located in UP (5,936), followed by West Bengal (4301), Delhi (659) and Goa (295). The 12,426 enemy properties vested with the custodian of enemy property of India are spread over 23 states/UTs.

Reddy added that there was no time-limit fixed for disposal of the aforesaid enemy properties. “Vesting of an enemy property is an ongoing process as new properties are taken up for vesting after their identification and the properties so vested are taken up for disposal thereafter. The disposal is subject to market processes and judicial interventions,” he explained.

After the Indo-China war of 1962 and Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, the Enemy Property Act was enacted in 1968 to regulate such properties and list the custodian’s powers. ‘Enemy property’ refers to any property belonging to, held or managed on behalf of an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm.
Reddy said the central government has laid down detailed procedure for sale of enemy shares vide an order dated February 18, 2019.
Further, the government vide orders dated March 21, 2018, March 8, 2019 and January 22, 2020 laid down the detailed procedures for disposal of immovable enemy properties vested in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, he added.

Source: ToI

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