The Uttar Pradesh government is gearing up for a statewide drive to free enemy properties from encroachments as 30 per cent of such properties in the state are under illegal occupation.
Out of a total 5,936 enemy properties in the state, 1,826 are under illegal occupation.
“Enemy properties’ refers to the properties left behind by the people who migrated from India to Pakistan or other countries with which India has hostilities.
According to the website of Uttar Pradesh Bhulekh (upbhulekh.gov.in), about 1,467 enemy properties have been occupied by mafia and others, while around 369 are occupied by co-occupiers. At the same time, 424 properties are occupied by tenants who were rented out the property at nominal rates during the tenure of Congress, Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party governments.
According to the government data, the most number of ‘enemy properties’ are occupied in Shamli district, where 268 of the total 482 such properties are under illegal possession while Lucknow ranks first in terms of possession by co-occupiers. Also, Lucknow has the highest number of properties in the possession of tenants.
Kaushambi district has 456 enemy properties out of which 197 are under illegal possession. Sitapur has 378 enemy properties out of which 111 are illegally occupied.
The government has identified 361 enemy properties in Lucknow with 105 occupied by tenants, 274 enemy properties in Muzaffarnagar out of which 85 are occupied by tenants and 250 enemy properties in Budaun out of which 65 are occupied by tenants.
In a high-level meeting on November 3 Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the Home department to undertake a state-wide drive to clear encroachments from ‘enemy properties’ and prepare a report on the updated status of all such properties.
The government decided to appoint a principal secretary-level officer as a nodal officer to supervise the action.
The state government has also decided to conduct a re-evaluation of the rented ‘enemy properties’ as it came to its notice that many tenants occupying these properties for decades have been paying nominal rent till now. In view of this, the properties will be assessed according to the present market rate.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has issued directives to officials to ensure that valuable properties still in illegal possession due to the neglect of previous governments are freed.
The ownership of the enemy property rests with the Custodian for Enemy Property in India, Mumbai, under Union Home Ministry. The task of the Custodian of Enemy Property for India is to identify, declare, preserve, manage and take control over the enemy properties and dispose of the property with prior approval of the Government of India under the provisions of the Enemy Property Act, 1968 as amended by the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017.