Several States, entities have encroached upon Defence land, Centre to SC

The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court (SC) that several state governments and their entities, besides others, have encroached upon defence lands and efforts are being made to remove them. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the high-powered independent committee constituted by the Centre to oversee the steps taken to remove the encroachments on defence lands and file its interim report in two weeks.

The bench was told by Attorney General R Venkataramani that the panel has been visiting the sites and identifying the encroachments, but facing some resistance and hence some directions and indulgence of the court were required.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Common Cause — which filed the PIL in 2014 seeking a probe into alleged encroachment of defence land across the country — said the panel has to look at the micro level. He added that the need, as suggested by the Comptroller and Auditor General in its report, was for an independent regulatory body.  The bench told Bhushan that whatever body is set up, it will have to take the help of local revenue authorities and law enforcement. “Once the interim report is filed, we will see what directions can be issued,” the bench said as it posted the matter for further hearing on November 10.

On July 30, the Centre, in its affidavit, informed the court that 2,024 acres out of 75,629 acres of defence land in the country are currently encroached upon by individuals, and 1,575 acres are under unauthorised possession of those who took the land on lease for agricultural purposes. According to the status report filed by the Ministry of Defence, nearly 819 acres of land are under the occupation of state and central government departments or their undertakings for various public-utility purposes, such as laying roads, constructing schools, public parks and bus stands, besides for administrative reasons.

“Approximately 75,629 acres of defence land fall under the administrative purview of the Defence Estates Organisation (DEOs), primarily Class A-2, B-3, B-4 and C land. Out of this land, around 52,899 acres lie within cantonments, while 22,730 acres are situated outside cantonments. At nearly 2,024 acres are encroached by individuals,” the affidavit has said.

It said additionally, 1,575 acres of land is under the unauthorised possession of former agricultural lessees, “against whom eviction proceedings have been initiated by respective DEOs”. The Centre said efforts are on to engage with the government authorities concerned with regard to the occupation of defence land so as to explore the possibility of land exchanges, wherein the defence ministry may be allotted equivalent land parcels in lieu of those under the unauthorised occupation of state Government organisations.

“To augment efforts of encroachment removal, the Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE) has operationalised an encroachment module under the aforesaid real-time record management (RTRM) system, developed in-house by the DGDE. “This digital tool enables Defence Estates Officers and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of cantonment boards to report cases of encroachments directly and transparently to the designated estate officers,” the Union government has said.

Highlighting the preventive measures, the ministry said steps taken by the defence estates organisation to protect defence land (falling under its management) include raising boundary walls and fencing vulnerable plots. “In the last 10 years, about 1,715 acres of defence land under the management of the DE Organisation have been removed by the CEOs and DEOs of the defence estates department. “In the current year itself, with the help of technological advantages of CoE survey and improved support of local administration, encroachment of about 220 acres has been removed from defence land,” the defence ministry has said.

It pointed out that the DEO routinely encounters operational impediments in implementing eviction proceedings against unauthorised encroachments, including non-availability of police and magistrates, judicial stays and other infrastructural and procedural issues. These challenges often result in delayed enforcement. The affidavit highlighted several other measures adopted by the Centre to remove the encroachments and unauthorised occupations and complete the digitisation of records.

On May 7, the top court flagged irregularities in the allotment of defence land to private entities and mulled setting up a probe team. Without naming the cantonment areas, it pointed out that some of them have palatial bungalows with an open space running into acres, a huge shopping complex, which were built with the collusion of defence estates officers. In 2014, the top court agreed to hear the PIL seeking a CBI probe into alleged encroachment and misuse of defence land across the country.