In an extensive operation on Saturday (July 22, 2023) morning, Uttarakhand’s Nainital District Administration demolished more than 100 illegal structures erected on enemy properties in the region. The district administration removed these illegal encroachments on the enemy property at the Raja Mahmudabad area in Nainital.
The ADM Shiv Charan Dwivedi of Nainital said, “The whole area has been emptied, the demolishing work done peacefully. During the survey, we got to know that 134 families used to live here and all the families have left the place”.
The district administration had issued eviction notices to the encroachers who had challenged the demolition in the Uttarakhand High Court. After their appeal was denied, the demolition was carried out on Saturday.
In the presence of police and PAC officials, 134 encroachments were destroyed. The demolition activity began at 8 a.m. and lasted 11 hours. The operation was overseen by a nodal officer and Nainital Deputy Collector Shivcharan Dwivedi, SDM Rahul Shah, and Superintendent of Police (crime) Jagdish Chandra.
The demolition is the result of a state government regulation that mandates a 10-year jail sentence for people who trespass on government property.
Officials said that removing encroachments from the Metropole hotel area will help decongest the city. The Metropole Hotel, formerly considered one of Nainital’s best hotels, belonged to the Raja of Mehmoodabad and housed Pakistan’s founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and his wife Rattanbai on their honeymoon.
The Raja of Mehmoodabad moved to Pakistan after the partition, leaving no legitimate successors to the property. As a result, the hotel was considered enemy property under the law.
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What is Enemy Property
The enemy property is basically immovable property left behind by the people who have taken citizenship of Pakistan and China.
People migrated from India to Pakistan in the aftermath of the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan conflicts. The Government of India took over the properties and businesses of persons who obtained Pakistani nationality under the Defence of India Rules enacted under the Defence of India Act, 1962.
These “enemy properties were vested by the Central government in the custodian of the enemy property of India. Similar was done for those who went to China after the 1962 Sino-Indian war.
The Tashkent Declaration, issued on January 10, 1966, featured a provision stating that India and Pakistan would consider the restitution of property and assets taken seized by either side during the conflict. However, the Pakistani government disposed of all such properties in their nation in 1971.
Enemy property Act
The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, was enacted by Parliament in 2017, amending the Enemy Property Act, of 1968, and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, of 1971.
The amended law stated that enemy property shall continue to vest in the Custodian even if the enemy, enemy subject, or enemy firm ceases to be an enemy due to death, extinction, business winding up, or change of nationality, or if the legal heir or successor is an Indian citizen or a citizen of a non-enemy country.
The Custodian may dispose of enemy possessions vested in him in line with the terms of the Act, with prior consent from the central government, and the government may make orders to the custodian for this purpose.
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