New Delhi: The Union home ministry has ordered a CBI probe against some of its own officials and those working with the Uttar Pradesh government and office of the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) for alleged illegal sale and lease of enemy properties. This was disclosed by Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Misha in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Mishra said according to information received from CEPI, no enemy property is being utilised by the government for any purpose. "Complaints are received from time-to-time which are addressed as per existing procedure. Based on examination of cases, the government has initiated departmental enquiry and CBI enquiry against officials of state government of Uttar Pradesh, CEPI and MHA and other private persons," he said in a written reply to a question.
The minister said the leasing or sale of enemy property is provided under the Enemy Property Rules, 2015 and the Enemy Property (Amendment & Validation) Act, 2017. Mishra said a total of 12,611 establishments, called enemy property, were left behind by people who have taken citizenship of Pakistan and China.
He said out of the 12,611 properties vested with the CEPI, 12,485 were related to Pakistani nationals and rest 126 to Chinese citizens. The enemy properties are those left behind by the people who took citizenship of Pakistan and China after leaving India during the partition and after 1962 war. The enemy properties are vested with the CEPI, an authority created under the Enemy Property Act 1968.
The highest number of enemy properties were found in Uttar Pradesh (6,255 properties), followed by West Bengal (4,088 properties), Delhi (659), Goa (295), Maharashtra (208), Telangana (158), Gujarat (151), Tripura (105), Bihar (94), Madhya Pradesh (94), Chhattisgarh (78) and Haryana (71). There are 71 enemy properties in Kerala, 69 in Uttarakhand, 67 in Tamil Nadu, 57 in Meghalaya, 29 in Assam, 24 in Karnataka, 22 in Rajasthan, 10 in Jharkhand, four in Daman and Diu and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
According to the law, enemy property refers to any property belonging to, held or managed on behalf of an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm. So far, movable properties worth about Rs 2,700 crore have been disposed of and the amount has been deposited in the consolidated fund of the government of India. However, no immovable enemy property has been sold so far. (PTI)
