Parl panel seeks states’ response on ‘Enemy Property’ Bill

A Parliamentary panel on Monday sought a written response from state governments to a Bill that seeks to guard against claims of succession or transfer of ‘enemy’ properties left by people, who migrated to Pakistan and China after the wars.

It also voiced displeasure over states not sending senior officials before it to present their views on the measure.

The Select Committee of Rajya Sabha, headed by BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav, which is examining Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, has called Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, besides experts and stakeholders before it to hear their views on the key Bill on Tuesday.

The panel had called Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Delhi for Monday’s meeting.

Most of the states had sent junior officers, while some had sent only their Resident Commissioners based in Delhi. Panel members took strong objection to this as it was also found that most of the officials were not well-prepared on the issue.

While the representative from Tamil Nadu cited upcoming Assembly elections as a reason for the Chief Secretary not being able to make it to the panel meeting, the UP representative sought more time to get the state government’s view on the Bill.