GS Mains Model Question & Answer: Discuss the cabinet approval to ordinance on enemy property bill and its subsequent provisions.
Q. Discuss the cabinet approval to ordinance on enemy property bill and its subsequent provisions. (12.5 Marks)
(General Studies Mains Paper I - Modern India : Post-independence)
Model Answer :
The Presidential Ordinance amends the Enemy Property Act, 1968 and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. It replaced the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2016, which was scheduled to lapse in April 2016.
Under it the centre 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.
Powers of the Custodian: The 1968 Act authorised the Custodian to take measures to preserve enemy property, and maintain the enemy and his family if they are in India, from the income derived from the property. The Ordinance removes the duty to maintain the enemy and his family.