Centre starts sale of 'enemy properties'

New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry has started the process for eviction and sale of enemy properties, the immovable assets left behind by the people who have taken citizenship of Pakistan and China. There are a total of 12,611 establishments called enemy properties, roughly estimated to be worth over Rs 1 lakh crore, in the country. The enemy properties are vested with the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI), an authority created under the Enemy Property Act.

According to a Home ministry notification, the guidelines for disposal of the enemy properties have been changed under which the process for eviction of enemy properties now shall be initiated with the help of the District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner concerned before the sale of properties.  In case of the enemy properties valued below Rs 1 crore, the custodian shall offer for purchase to the occupant first and if offer of purchase is refused by the occupant, then the enemy property shall be disposed of in accordance with the procedure specified in the guidelines, the notification said.

Those enemy properties having valuation of Rs one crore and below Rs 100 crore, shall be disposed of by the CEPI through e-auction or otherwise as may be decided by the central government and at the rate determined by the Enemy Property Disposal Committee. The e-auction platform of public enterprise, the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited, shall be used by the CEPI for e-auction of enemy properties, the home ministry said.

The government has earned over Rs 3,400 crore from disposal of enemy properties, mostly movable assets like shares and gold, officials said. None of the 12,611 immovable enemy property has been monetised so far by the government.  The Home ministry has already launched a national survey of enemy properties, spread across 20 states and three Union Territories, with a purpose to identify and subsequently monetise all such properties.