Custodian for Enemy Property for India

The Custodian for Enemy Property for India is an Indian government department that is empowered to appropriate property in India owned by Pakistani nationals. After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the Enemy Property Act was promulgated in 1968 . The act authorised the Central Government of India to appoint a custodian for enemy property for India and one or more deputy/assistant custodians as assistances. There is also a provision which validates the appointments made under the Defence of India Rules 1962 and 1971 . The Pakistani nationals in question were citizens of undivided India before the Partition of India in 1947 took place, and left India to settle down in Pakistan.

Under the notification issued on September 10 and September 11, 1965, the Central Government vested the following property in India belonging to, held by, or managed on behalf of Pakistani nationals; entrusting the property and its appurtenances in the hands of the custodian with immediate effect. This includes all immovable property, all lockers and safe deposits; and all negotiable instruments such as promissory notes, shares, debentures and other Commerce.

Citizens of India are banned from entering any transactions by way of granting development rights, sale/transfer/ mortgage / of 1/3rd of a property in India declared as "enemy" property. The office of the Custodian are located in Bombay with a branch in Calcutta.

Properties

The custodian currently manages 2,943 immovable properties such as land, buildings etc.; and movable properties such as securities, shares, debentures, bank balances through fixed deposits and other amounts lying in enemy national's bank accounts. These include 1,345 income cases, 231 declared cases, 1,011 process cases and 356 court cases. The Custodian also manages the Habib Bank and the National Bank of Pakistan. The value of enemy property held is apprised at Rs 29.4 crores (294 million) in 1971.

Income

The fees equal two percent on the gross income from the properties vested in the Custodian. The income received by way of rent, interest etc. on securities is invested in the Reserve Bank of India. The maturity for the year 2004-2005 is expected to touch 135 crores. A balance of 0.22 crores is in the personal ledger account of the Custodian maintained by the Central Bank of India. A sum of 51

lakhs (5.1 million) is kept in the fixed deposit in the name of Habib Bank.

THE ENEMY PROPERTY ACT, 1968

An Act to provide for the continued vesting of enemy property vested in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India under the Defence of India Rules, 1962 1[and the Defence of India Rules, 1971], and for matters connected therewith.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Nineteenth Year of theRepublic of India as follows:-

Short title, extent, application and commencement. (1) ThisAct may be called the Enemy Property Act, 1968.(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir and it applies also to all citizens of India outside India and to branches and agencies outside India of companies or bodies corporate registered or incorporated in India.

(3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 10th day of July, 1968.2.Definitions.

Definitions. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-o “Custodian” means the Custodian of Enemy Property for

India appointed or deemed to have been appointed under section 3 and includes a Deputy Custodian and an AssistantCustodian of Enemy Property appointed or deemed to have been appointed under that section;

o “enemy” or “enemy subject” or “enemy firm” means a person or country who or which was an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm, as the case may be, under theDefence of India Act, 1962 (51 of 1962), and the Defence ofIndia Rules, 1962 2[or the Defence of India Act,1971 (12 of1971) and the Defence of India Rules, 1971], but does not include a citizen of India;

o “enemy property” means any property for the time being belonging to or held or managed on behalf of an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm:

Provided that where an individual enemy subject dies in the territories to which this Act extends, any property which

——————————————————————— 1 Ins. by Act 40 of 1977, s. 2 (w.e.f. 27-9-1977). 2 Ins. by s. 3, ibid. (w.e.f. 27-9-1977).

——————————————————————— 26.immediately before his death, belonged to or was held by him or

was managed on his behalf, may, notwithstanding his death,

continue to be regarded as enemy property for the purposes of this Act ;

o “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under thisAct.

Appointment of custodian of Enemy property for India andDeputy custodian, etc. The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint a Custodian of Enemy Property for Indian and one or more Deputy Custodians and Assistant Custodians or EnemyProperty for such local areas as may be specified in the notification:

Provided that the Custodian of Enemy Property for Indian and anyDeputy Custodian or Assistant Custodian of Enemy Property appointed under the Defence of India Rules, 1962 1[or the Defence of IndiaRules, 1971, as the case may be], shall be deemed to have been appointed under this section.

Appointment of inspectors of Enemy property. The CentralGovernment may, either generally or for any particular area, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint one or more Inspectors of Enemy Property for securing compliance with the provisions of thisAct and may, by general or special order, provide for the distribution and allocation of the work to be performed by them for securing such compliance:

Provided that every Inspector of Enemy Firms appointed under theDefence of India Rules, 1962 2[or the Defence of India Rules, 1971, as the case may be], shall be deemed to be an Inspector of Enemy Property appointed under this section.

Property vested in the Custodian of Enemy property for India under the Defence of India Rules, 1962, and the Defence of IndiaRules, 1971 to continue to vest in Custodian. 3[(1)] Notwithstanding the expiration of the Defence of India Act, 1962 (51 of 1962), and the Defence of India Rules, 1962, all enemy property vested before such expiration in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India appointed under the said Rules and continuing to vest in him immediately before the commencement of this Act, shall, as from such commencement, vest in the Custodian.

2 [ (2) Notwithstanding the expiration of the Defence of IndiaAct, 1971 (12 of 1971) and the Defence of India Rules, 1971, all enemy property vested before such expiration in the Custodian of EnemyProperty for India appointed under the said Rules and continuing to vest in him immediately before the commencement of the Enemy Property(Amend-

--------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Ins. by Act 40 of 1977, s. 4 (w.e.f. 27-9-1977). 2 Ins. by s. 5, ibid. (w.e.f. 27-9-1977).

3 S. 5 renumbered as sub-section (1) thereof by s. 6, ibid.(w.e.f. 27-9-1977).---------------------------------------------------------------------

27.ment) Act, 1977 (40 of 1977) shall, as from such commencement, vest in the custodian.]

6.Transfer of property vested in Custodian by enemy on enemy subject or enemy firm.

Transfer of property vested in Custodian by enemy on enemy subject or enemy firm. Where any property vested in the Custodian under this Act has been transferred, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, by an enemy or an enemy subject or an enemy firm and where it appears to the Central Government that such transfer is injurious to the public interest or was made with a view to evading or defeating the vesting of the property in the Custodian, then, theCentral Government may, after giving a reasonable opportunity to the transferee to be heard in the matter, by order, declare such transfer to be void and on the making of such order, the property shall continue to vest or be deemed to vest in the Custodian.

Payment to Custodian of money otherwise payable to an enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm. (1) Any sum payable by way of dividend, interest, share profits or otherwise to or for the benefit of an enemy or an enemy subject or an enemy firm shall, unless otherwise ordered by the Central Government, be paid by the person by whom such sum would have been payable but for the prohibition under the Defence of India Rules, 1962 1[or the Defence of India Rules,1971, as the case may be], to the Custodian or such person as may be authorised by him in this behalf and shall be held by the Custodian or such person subject to the provisions of this Act.

(2) In cases in which money would, but for the prohibition under the Defence of India Rules, 1961 1[or the Defence of India Rules,1971, as the case may be], be payable in a foreign currency to or for the benefit of an enemy or an enemy subject or an enemy firm (other than cases in which money is payable under a contract in which provision is made for specified rate of exchange), the payment shall be made to the Custodian in rupee currency at the middle official rate of exchange fixed by the Reserve Bank of India on the date on which the payment became due to that enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm.

(3) The Custodian shall, subject to the provisions of section 8, deal with any money paid to him under the Defence of India Rules, 1962.1[or the Defence of India Rules, 1971, as the case may be] or under this Act and any property vested in him under this Act in such manner as the Central Government may direct.

Power of Custodian In respect of enemy property vested in him. (1) With respect to the property vested in the Custodian under this Act, the Custodian may take or authorise the taking of such measures as the considers necessary or expedient for preserving

———————————————————————1 Ins. by Act 40 of 1977, s. 7 (w.e.f. 27-9-1977).———————————————————————

28.such property and where such property belongs to an individual enemy subject, may incur such expenditure out of the property as he considers necessary or expedient for the maintenance of that individual or of his family in India.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the Custodian or such person as may be specifically authorised by him in this behalf, may, for the said purpose,-

carry on the business of the enemy; (ii) take action for recovering any money due to the enemy; (iii) make any contract and execute any document in the name and

on behalf of the enemy ; (iv) institute, defend or continue any suit or other legal proceeding,

refer any dispute to arbitration and compromise any debts, claims or liabilities;

(v) raise on the security of the property such loans as may be necessary;

(vi) incur out of the property any expenditure including the payment of any taxes, duties, cesses and rates to Government or to any local authority and of any wages, salaries, pensions, provident fund contributions to, or in respect of, any employee of the enemy and the repayment of any debts due by the enemy to persons other than enemies ;

(vii) transfer by way of sale, mortgage or lease or otherwise dispose of any of the properties ;

(viii) invest any moneys held by him on behalf of enemies for the purchase of Treasury Bills or such other Government securities as may be approved by the Central Government for the purpose;

(ix) make payments to the enemy and his dependents; (x) make payments on behalf of the enemy to persons other than

those who are enemies, of dues outstanding on the 25thOctober, 1962 1[or on the 3rd December, 1971]; and

(xi) make such other payments out of the funds of the enemy as may be directed by the Central Government.

Explanation.-In this sub-section and in sections 10 and 17,“enemy” includes an enemy subject and an enemy firm.

Exemption from attachment, etc. All enemy property vested in the Custodian under this Act shall be exempt from attachment, seizure or sale in execution of decree of a civil court or orders of any other authority.

——————————————————————— 1 Ins. by Act 40 of 1977, S. 8 (w.e.f. 27-9-1977) ——————————————————————— 29.10.Transfer of securities belonging to an enemy. Transfer of securities belonging to an enemy. (1) Where, in exercise

of the powers conferred by section 8, the Custodian proposes to sell any security issued by a company and belonging to an enemy, the

company may, with the consent of the Custodian, purchase the securities, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any law or in any regulations of the company and any securities so purchased may be re-issued by the company as and when it thinks fit so to do.

(2)Where the Custodian executes and transfers any securities issued by a company, the company shall, on receipt of the transfer and an order in this behalf from the Custodian, register the securities in the name of the transferee, notwithstanding that the regulations of the company do not permit such registration in the absence of the certificate, script or other evidence of title relating to the securities transferred:

Provided that any such registration shall be without prejudice to any lien or charge in favour of the company and to any other lien or charge of which the Custodian gives express notice to the company.

Explanation.-In this section, “securities” includes shares, stocks, bonds, debentures and debenture stock but does not include bills of exchange.

Power of Custodian to summon persons and call for documents.(1) The Custodian may, by notice in writing, require any person whom he believes to be capable of giving information concerning any enemy property to attend before him at such time and place as may be specified in the notice and examine any such person concerning the same, reduce his statement to writing and require him to sign it.

(2) The Custodian may, by notice in writing, require any person whom he believes to have in his possession or control any account book, letter book, invoice, receipt or other document of whatever nature relating to any enemy property, to produce the same or cause the same to be produced before the Custodian at such time and place as may be specified in the notice and to submit the same to his examination and to allow copies of any entry therein or any part thereof to be taken by him.

12.Protection for complying with orders of Custodian. Protection for complying with orders of Custodian. Where any order

with respect to any money or property is addressed to any person by the Custodian and accompanied by a certificate of theCustodian that the money or property is money property vested in him under this Act, the certificate shall be evidence of the facts stated therein and if that person complies with

30 the orders of the Custodian, he shall not be liable to any suit or

other legal proceeding by reason only of such compliance. 13.Validity of action taken in pursuance of orders of Custodian. Validity of action taken in pursuance of orders of

Custodian. Where under this Act,-o any money is paid to the Custodian; oro any property is vested in the Custodian or an order is given to

any person by the Custodian in relation to any property which

appears to the Custodian to be enemy property vested in him under this Act,

neither the payment, vesting nor order of the Custodian nor any pro-ceedings in consequence thereof shall be invalidated or affected by reason only that at a material time,-

some person who was or might have been interested in the money or property, and who was an enemy or an enemy firm, had died or had ceased to be an enemy or an enemy firm ;or

some person who was so interested and who was believed by the Custodian to be an enemy or an enemy firm, was not an enemy or an enemy firm.

14.Proceedings against companies whose assets vest in Custodian. Proceedings against companies whose assets vest in

Custodian. Where the enemy property vested in the Custodian under thisAct consists of assets of a company, no proceeding, civil or criminal, shall be instituted under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), against the company, or any director, manager or other officer thereof except with the consent in writing of the Custodian.

15.Return as to enemy property. Return as to enemy property. (1) The Custodian may call for from

persons who, in his opinion, have any interest in, or control over, any enemy property vested in him under this Act, such returns as may be prescribed.

(2) Every person from whom a return is called for under sub-section (1) shall be bound to submit such return within the prescribed period.

16.Registers of returns. Registers of returns. (1) All returns relating to enemy property

submitted to the Custodian under this Act shall be recorded in such registers as may be prescribed.

(2) All such registers shall be open to inspection subject to the payment of such fees as may be prescribed and to such reasonable restrictions as the Custodian may impose, to any person who, in the opinion of the Custodian, is interested in any particular enemy property as a creditor or otherwise and any such person may also obtain

31.a copy of the relevant portion from the registers on payment of the prescribed fees.

17.Levy of fees. Levy of fees. (1) There shall be levied by the Custodian fees equal to

two percentum of-o the amount of moneys paid to him ;o the proceeds of the sale or transfer of any property which has

been vested in him under this Act; and

o the value of the residual property, if any, at the time of its transfer to the original owner or other person specified by the Central Government under section 18:

Provided that in the case of an enemy whose property is allowed by the Custodian to be managed by some person specially authorised in that behalf, there shall be levied a fee of two percentum of the gross income of the enemy or such less fee as may be specifically fixed by the Central Government after taking into consideration the cost of direct management incurred by that Government, the cost of superior supervision and any risks that may be incurred by that Government in respect of the management:

Provided further that the Central Government may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, reduce or remit the fees leviable under this sub-section in any special case or class of cases.

Explanation.-In this sub-section “gross income of the enemy”means income derived out of the properties of the enemy vested in theCustodian under this Act.

(2) The value of any property for the purpose of assessing the fees shall be the price which, in the opinion of the CentralGovernment or of an authority empowered in this behalf by the CentralGovernment, such property would fetch if sold in the open market.

(3) The fees in respect of property may be levied out of any proceeds of the sale or transfer thereof or out of any income accrued therefrom or out of any other property belonging to the same enemy and vested in the Custodian under this Act.

(4) The fees levied under this section shall be credited to theCentral Government.

18.Divesting of enemy property vested in the Custodian. Divesting of enemy property vested in the Custodian. The

Central Government may, by general or special order, direct that any enemy property vested in the Custodian under this Act and remaining with him shall he divested from him and be returned, in such manner as may be prescribed to the owner thereof or to such other person as may be specified in the direction and

32.thereupon such property shall cease to vest in the Custodian and shall revest in such owner or other person.

19.Protection of action taken under the act. Protection of action taken under the act. No suit, prosecution or

other legal proceeding shall lie against the CentralGovernment or the Custodian or an Inspector of Enemy Property for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

20.Penalty. Penalty. (1) If any person makes any payment in contravention of

the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 7, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both and the payment or dealing shall be void.

(2) If any person contravenes the provisions of sub-section (2)of section 10, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

(3) If any person fails to comply with a requisition made by theCustodian under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 11, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.

(4) If any person fails to submit the return under sub-section(2) of section 15, or furnishes such return containing any particular which is false and which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.

21.Offences by companies. Offences by companies. (1) Where an offence under this Act has

been committed by a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due deligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed

33.to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Explanation.-For the purposes of this section,-o “company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or

other association of individuals; ando “director”, in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.

22.Effect of laws inconsistent with the Act. 22.Effect of laws inconsistent with the Act. The provisions of this Act

shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force.

23.Power to make rules. Power to make rules. (1) The Central Government may make rules

for carrying out the purposes of this Act. (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such

rules may provide for-o the returns that may be called for by the Custodian under sub-

section (1) of section 15 and the period within which such returns shall be submitted under sub-section (2) of that section;

o the registers in which the returns relating to enemy property shall be recorded under section 16;

o the fees for the inspection of registers and for obtaining copies of the relevant portions from the registers under sub-section (2) of section 16;

o the manner in which enemy property vested in theCustodian may be returned under section 18;

o any other matter which has to be or may be prescribed. (3) Every rule made by the Central Government under this section

shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of Parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session 1[or in two or more successive sessions and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid], bothHouses agree in making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.

——————————————————————— 1 subs. by Act 40 of 1977, s. 9, for certain words (w.e.f. 27-9-

1977).———————————————————————

34.24.Certain orders made under the Defence of India Rules 1962 and Defenceof IndiaRules, 1971 to continue in force.

Certain orders made under the Defence of India Rules 1962.and Defence of India Rules, 1971 to continue in force. 1[(1)] Every order which was made under the Defence of India Rules, 1962, by theCentral Government or by the Custodian of Enemy Property for India appointed under those Rules, relating to enemy property and which was in force immediately before the expiration thereof shall, in so far as such order is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to continue in force and to have been made under this Act.

2[(2) Every order which was made under the Defence of IndiaRules, 1971 by the Central Government or by the Custodian of EnemyProperty for India appointed under those Rules relating to enemy property and which was in force immediately before the expiration thereof shall, in so far as such order is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to continue in force and to have been made under this Act.]

25.Repeal and saving. Repeal and saving. (1) The Enemy Property Ordinance, 1968.(7 of

1968), is hereby repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act.

——————————————————————— 1 S. 24 renumbered as sub-section (1) thereof by Act 40 of 1977, S.

10 (w.e.f. 27-9-1977). 2 Ins. by s. 10, ibid. (w.e.f. 27-9-1977).

——————————————————————— The Custodian of Enemy Property for India is an Indian

government department that is empowered to appropriate property in India owned by Pakistani nationals. After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the Enemy Property Act was promulgated in 1968 . The act authorised the Central Government of India to appoint a custodian for enemy property for India and one or more deputy/assistant custodians as assistances. There is also a provision which validates the appointments made under the Defence of India Rules 1962 and 1971 . The Pakistani nationals in question were citizens of undivided India before the Partition of India in 1947 took place, and left India to settle down in Pakistan.

Under the notification issued on 10 September and 11 September 1965, the Central Government vested the following property in India belonging to, held by, or managed on behalf of Pakistani nationals; entrusting the property and its appurtenances in the hands of the custodian with immediate effect. This includes all immovable property, all lockers and safe deposits; and all negotiable instruments such as promissory notes, shares, debentures and other Commerce.

Citizens of India are banned from entering any transactions by way of granting development rights, sale/transfer/mortgage of 1/3rd of a property in India declared as "enemy" property. The office of the Custodian are located in Bombay with a branch in Calcutta.

‘Enemy property' ordinance will be allowed to lapse New Delhi: The UPA government has withdrawn its efforts to push

through a new law that would throw into question the possession of ancestral property by citizens whose parents or grandparents migrated to Pakistan after partition. The decision to keep the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2010 in abeyance was taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, official sources said, after

a cross-party delegation of prominent Muslim MPs met him on Wednesday and registered its protest at the draft.

Sources in the delegation said the Prime Minister, after hearing them out, “consulted” Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on the matter and a decision was then taken to back off. An ordinance currently in operation will be allowed to lapse on July 28, the last date by which it must be replaced by an Act of Parliament.

Those who met Dr. Singh included Union Minister for New and Renewable energy Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Salman Khursheed (Congress), Union Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed (Trinamool Congress), Union Minister of State for Railways E. Ahamed (Muslim League), Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson K. Rehman Khan, Rajya Sabha member and Congress general secretary Mohsina Kidwai, and Rajya Sabha members Naznin Faruque, Ahmad Sayeed Malihabadi and Mohammad Adeeb.

The Bill, had it been passed, would have prevented Indian family members of those who migrated to Pakistan at the time of Partition from going to court to regain possession of the property of their forefathers that had been seized as “enemy property” and had been vested in a custodian. The government's keenness to pass the Bill was demonstrated by the fact that it had got the President to promulgate an ordinance on July 2, which means it is currently in operation. The Enemy Property Bill, 2010 was intended to replace this ordinance amending an Act of 1968 to contend with court judgments that “adversely affected the powers” of the custodians and the Government of India.

At Wednesday's meeting, the MPs told Dr. Singh that they requested him to examine the Bill as it would have “a politically adverse impact on a large number of families in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Maharashtra.” It would be “putting the clock back to 1968,” an MP said, “as many people had ordered their lives based on court verdicts and it would serve no public purpose to unsettle them.”

Discussion deferred Earlier on Wednesday, the Bill, that had been introduced by Union

Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken in the Lok Sabha on August 2, was listed to come up for consideration and passage. But after some prominent Muslim MPs raised an outcry, the discussion was deferred.

The government, according to North Block sources, was forced to promulgate an ordinance to bring an end to the rash of appeals in various High Courts seeking repossession of properties held by the custodian, triggered off by the Supreme Court order restoring the properties of the Rajah of Mehmoodabad to his heir, Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan.

Various interpretations When Mr. Maken moved the Bill, he had said that the courts had

given various interpretations to the 1968 Act as a result of which the

custodians were finding it difficult to sustain their occupation of such properties. But Muslim MPs felt that many such properties owned by those living in India had been wrongly taken over by the custodian on the assumption that their owners had migrated to Pakistan. Such properties had been under litigation for decades, but now the Rajah Mehmoodabad case had created a precedent for many Muslims to cite and recover their properties from the custodian.

2,000 properties According to one estimate, there are over 2,000 such properties

across India, with 55 in Lucknow. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the impact of the ordinance was already

being felt: the Raja of Mehmoodabad, who had won possession of his ancestral properties, worth hundreds of crores, after a 32-year court battle in October 2005, lost them all over again, when the Lucknow district administration formally took possession of six of his properties, as directed by the Custodian of Enemy Properties under the Union Home Ministry.

WHAT happens when your shares are under the control of an obscure government office of a country and all the proceeds accruing from the shares keep on piling up in the treasury of that government? Not great. Ask 18,560 Pakistani shareholders whose aggregate shareholding in 558 Indian companies and all benefits accruing on the shares are under the control of the custodian of enemy property.

Equity assets worth thousands of crores originally owned by Pakistani shareholders are locked up with the government of India under the office of custodian of enemy property.As per the custodian’s records, the current market value of such shareholding in the top five companies is a staggering Rs 1,069 crore. The companies include Wipro, Cipla, the Tata group (five companies), ACC and the DCM group (three companies).

The numbers look even bigger at the individual shareholder level. Two Pakistani shareholders together hold a whopping one crore shares in Wipro worth Rs 504 crore while 34 shareholders in Cipla jointly own 2.3 crore shares valued at Rs 482 crore. The combined shareholding in the Tata group companies, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals and Tata Coffee, is 4.4 lakh shares worth Rs 48 crore.

Similarly, ACC and the DCM group of companies have a joint shareholding of Rs 26 crore and Rs 9 crore respectively.

The latest dividend income from shareholding of the top five companies was worth Rs 12 crore. As on March 31, 2007, the custodian had over Rs 200 crore of dividend income as deposits with RBI.

The market value of such holding in other companies is also expected to run in hundreds of crores as Pakistani citizens had equity holdings in Hindustan Unilever, ITC, DLF, Bajaj Electricals, CESC, Reliance Energy, EIH, Aditya Birla Nuvo, India Cement, Dalmia Cement and Ballarpur Industries, among others.

Though entrusted with the management of assets, the custodian office seems to be clueless about their current status. They fail to provide the latest shareholding, which made our task difficult. ETestimates for top five companies is based on the combined information provided by the respective companies as well as the custodian.

As per an undated estimate available from the office of custodian, the value of shares in top 45 listed companies in the custodian’s portfolio stands at only Rs 180 crore. ET investigation, however, revealed that in the case of many companies, the holding figures were highly underestimated and did not show the true picture. For instance, Wipro’s holding as per the custodian data stands at 16.6 lakh shares, which is minuscule against the current latest holding of one crore shares. Likewise, instead of 11 lakh shares, Cipla has over 2.3 crore shares under the control of the custodian.

While the portfolio includes leading listed companies, there are dozens of companies that have either closed down, were liquidated or merged with another company or simply can’t be traced. One of the little-heard name in the list is TESTI, in which two shareholders hold a whopping 23 lakh shares. However, no details of such a company were found.

So, what is the fate of the shareholders and their prized investments? The assets were seized by the government of India under the Enemy Property Act, 1968, in the aftermath of Indo-Pak conflict in 1965. The control of assets vests with the office of custodian of enemy property appointed under the Act, which is under the home ministry. As of now, the status quo remains in the absence of an agreement between the governments. Internationally, there is a system of pro-rata compensation once the countries sign a peace treaty. In this case, however, the Pakistan government is alleged to have liquidated the Indian-owned property.

This has put Indian government in a piquant situation. “Unless Indian property owners are not compensated, it becomes tricky for us to release assets under our control,” says custodian Dinesh Singh.

Beat it! Hyderabad Airport built on enemy property

The left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing - this is generally the case in functioning of various government bodies. A recent example of this can be found in the land dispute that is brewing at the newly inaugurated international airport in Hyderabad.

The swanky Hyderabad airport, which has been inaugurated barely a month back, has been built on 5,500 acre in Shamshabad, on the outskirts of Hyderabad. However, it now appears that a certain portion of this land is owned by a Pakistani national, and is therefore under the control of the Mumbai-based custodian of enemy property since 1972. In August 1972, the said piece of land was declared as enemy property by the custodian based on the report presented by the collector of Rangareddy district.

Subsequently, in July 2006, on encroachment of the land, the office of custodian sent a letter to the collector, Rangareddy district, in July 2006 asking the status of the land. No response has been received thereon. In its latest correspondence dated 18th March, 2008, the office of custodian has yet again asked for the details of the land, response to which is still awaited.

Dinesh Singh, the custodian of enemy property, tells ET that repeated requests enquiring about the status of the land sent to the office of district collector have not borne any response. More than 600 acres of land belonging to Mohammad Karimuddin, a Pakistani national, has been encroached without any intimation to the office of custodian. ?We have neither received any response nor any compensation for the said land. If any compensation has been awarded to any locals, the awardee has to prove his title to the land?, said Mr Singh.

The airport has been built as a public private enterprise by GMR GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited. The Andhra Pradesh government holds 13% in the venture.When ET contacted the airport officials this is what Mr A Viswanath, VP, commercial, GMR had to say: ?The government has acquired the land on behalf of GHIAL and the land has been leased to the company for a total period of 60 years.? He denied that the any enemy property had been used in the construction of the airport.

Andhra Pradesh government authorities too seem to be unaware of the said status of the land. When contacted by ET, Mr Praveen Prakash, collector, Rangareddy district said he had recently taken over and therefore ET should speak to the joint collector. Mr Jaganmohan, joint collector, informed ET that no enemy property was acquired for international airport.

However, the survey numbers given by the collector's office included two plots bearing survey numbers 173 and 174 which have been acquired for Shamshabad airport. These are exactly the same survey numbers that the custodian of enemy property has in its records.

Under the Enemy Property Act, 1968, the control of all kinds of property belonging to enemy subjects vests with the custodian.

Presently, the custodian is managing more than 3000 immovable properties like land, buildings, etc. The custodian has to act through the respective district collectors to protect and maintain all such properties. Around 400 court cases have been filed under various courts concerning disputes regarding enemy property.

Source: Economic Times

Delhi's land mafia has grabbed property worth crores of rupees that were evacuated by people who migrated to Pakistan during Partition, it has emerged. This acknowledgement comes from the top brass of the Delhi government in a letter written by state revenue minister Raj Kumar Chauhan. The letter was sent to lieutenant governor (LG) Tejendra Khanna and chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who then instructed the revenue department to probe the matter.

Describing the situation as a "very serious matter," Chauhan seconded the Union home ministry's suggestion to notify and ban any further mutation or registry of "enemy properties" in Delhi.

All property left behind by people who migrated to Pakistan during Partition are classified as enemy property. They are owned by the Mumbai-based Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) under the Union home ministry. Following the approval of this communiqué by Khanna, Vinay Kumar, joint secretary in the revenue department, issued a notification on January 14, banning the registry or mutation of all enemy property on "the list."

The notification directed that "the name of the Custodian of Enemy Property for India" be put in place of the present owners listed against the said property. The notification effectively means that hundreds of people

in the Capital living in such "enemy property" would lose the title and registry rights to their property. The worst-affected areas would be Old Delhi's Jama Masjid, Sabzi Mandi and Civil Lines amongst others, where most of such property are located, according to the CEPI list.

"The actions as proposed by the CEPI are required to be taken immediately. This shall help in releasing the enemy property from the hands of the land mafia to the Union of India, where it should belong and would also put a stop on any future transaction of any enemy property, if it is attempted. Since the list enclosed with the custodian's letter consisting of enemy property is quite huge, the quantum involved could be a few thousand crores," Chauhan wrote.

Interestingly, the approved communiqué was in continuation of a much larger file that also mentioned the alleged plans of Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal, of the Lok Janshakti Party, to build a hotel with a Dubai- based hotel chain on one such enemy property.

Iqbal denied the allegations and said he will file a defamation suit against the government.

" All this is baseless, a figment of imagination. There is a police post at the land in question, how can I evict the post?" he asked.

Dinesh Singh, the custodian for all such property in India, said from his Mumbai office that it was a " very timely move by the government". Singh visited some of these properties in Delhi on December 12 and met the principal secretary ( revenue) on the issue. He hoped to free the " valuable lands and buildings from the possession of the powerful land mafia" with the help of the Delhi government and the home ministry, he said.

" I have been informed of the Delhi government's notification but am yet to receive a detailed report on the entire enemy property affair," Singh said.

Like most other revenue department officials, Singh acknowledged that " the notification" would not just hit the " mafia" but also many " innocent, unsuspecting" citizens who had entered into transactions with regard to the enemy property.

" Since the concerned property actually belong to the Indian government, all the listed property's transactions would be nullified and the custodian's name would come on the records," he said.

" The people occupying such property, either in the mafia or those unsuspecting citizens bought them, are getting them registered at government departments by whatever means," an officer said.

" We have got the permission to order a probe into the matter by the LG as it is a sensitive issue.

We are yet to decide which agency will carry out the probe," Chauhan said on Sunday.

This Raja won a 32-year-old legal battle, but has now lost property worth billions.

Exactly five years after winning a 32-year-long court battle following which huge properties were restored to him by a Supreme Court, an erstwhile prince-turned-professor of astro-physics at both Oxford and Cambridge has been brought back to square one, thanks to an amendment in the Enemy Property Act.

This follows issue of an Ordinance by President Pratibha Patil last week whereby even courts were not entitled to alter the status of any property that was once declared 'enemy property'. Significantly, the amended law has been brought into effect with retrospect.

Even as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is yet to table the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2010 before the current session of Parliament, officials of the Uttar Pradesh government have shown unusual speed in taking over possession of various buildings, whose possession was handed over to the Raja in pursuance of the apex court order four years ago.

While the apex court order had entitled Raja Amir Mohammad Khan of Mahmoodabad in Sitapur district, about 8-km from Lucknow to all his properties that were seized by the government after his late father chose to migrate to Pakistan , the new Ordinance seeks to send the message loud and clear that "once an enemy property, always an enemy property".

The court's order came on the plea that since Amir Mohammad Khan had chosen not to migrate with his father to Pakistan and has stayed on in India as a rightful Indian citizen, he was entitled to reclaim his rights over different properties taken over by the custodian. An Oxbridge alumnae, 63-year-old Khan not only taught at Oxford and Cambridge but later also became a Congress MLA from Mahmoodabad.

Says the Ordinance, "The enemy property vested in the custodian shall, notwithstanding that the enemy, or the enemy subject, or the enemy firm has ceased to be an enemy, due to death, extinction, winding up of business, or change of nationality, or that the legal heir and successor is a citizen of India, or the citizen of a country, which isnot an enemy, continue to remain vested in the Custodian, till it is divested by the Central Government."

It is learnt that the Supreme Court order of 2005 had created major problems for the government as owners of similar properties across the

country sought restoration of their confiscated properties on the same plea. Several such 'enemy' properties were stated to be existing in New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai where the most prominent of these was Mohammad Ali Jinnah's house on Malabar Hill.

The Mumbai-based official custodian of enemy properties as well as the External Affairs Minister, were under tremendous pressure on the same account.

Eventually, the Home Ministry convened a meeting of External Affairs ,Finance Ministry and the Custodian on June 18 last following which they resolved to make a suitable amendment in the law itself to shut the Pandora's box that was opened in the wake of the apex court verdict in case of the Raja of Mahmoodabad.

With the Ordinance in place, prime properties worth hundreds of crores in Lucknow's main shopping centre, Hazratganj , Nainital , Sitapur and Lakhimpur-Kheri , some of which were restored to the Raja, would go back to the custodian or its lessees. Since the bungalows of the district magistrate, superintendent of police and chief medicalofficer in Sitapur had also been handed over to the Raja, the official machinery was all set to get the possession of these buildings. "We will take over these buildings now as the order of the apex court was invalidated by the Ordinance", district magistrate Sanjay Kumar told this scribe on Wednesday.

Private tenants to whom such properties were let out by the custodian, are feeling elated over the Ordinance.

"It is our victory because we always maintained that the property of those who migrated to Pakistan should not go back to their heirs; after all we have also been deprived of what our ancestors held before the partition in Pakistan", argues Sandeep Kohli, who owns a huge swanky showroom in once such building owned by the Mahmoodabad royalty in Hazratganj.

Raja was not available for comment.

Can an Indian citizen, heir to a man who migrated to Pakistan during partition, be termed enemy within the meaning of the Enemy Property Act of 1968. The answer, according to the Supreme Court, is an emphatic no.

‘‘The definition of enemy provided under the Section 2(b) excludes citizens of India as an enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm,’’ a bench of Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice Altamas Kabir has ruled.

Similarly, property left behind in India by such a person cannot be termed enemy property after it has been inherited by his legal heir, who is an Indian citizen, it said.

The court was deciding an appeal filed by the Centre against an order of the Bombay High Court asking the Custodian of Enemy Properties to hand over possession of properties of the erstwhile Raja Mohammed Amir Mohammed Khan, legal heir of the Raja of Mahmudabad Sitarpur in UP.

Khan’s father had migrated to Pakistan in 1957, though his mother Rani Kaniz Abdi continued to reside in India. In 1973, after the death of his father in London, Khan laid claim to his father’s property.

The Custodian was created by the Enemy Property Order of 1965, which was replaced by the Enemy Property Act three years later. Under this, ‘‘all immovable property in India belonging to or held by or managed on behalf of Pakistani nationals stood vested in the Custodian of Enemy Property in India with immediate effect.’’ The government agreed to release only 25 per cent of the property to Khan.

Litigation followed during which the Bombay High Court ruled in Khan’s favour saying the custodian only had temporary rights over the property which had ceased to become enemy property after its title came to be vested with Khan, an Indian citizen.

Against this order, the Centre approached the Supreme Court. Dismissing the appeal, the apex court said, ‘‘the authorities have deprived Khan of the possession and enjoyment of the properties for the last 32 years without any justification.’’

Not mincing words, it said ‘‘the reasons for doing so as we understand is that buildings are being occupied by the Deputy Commissioner, SP and other district officers for their residence as well as for their offices, which they do not want to give up. This is highly objectionable and unjust. It needs to be depricated.’’