New Delhi, Aug 2: The government today introduced in the Lok Sabha an amendment bill that makes it clear that courts would have no jurisdiction over occupation of properties which have been left behind by those who went to Pakistan at the time of partition.
 The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2010, which seeks to replace an Act of 1968, was moved in view of a number of court judgements that “adversely affected the powers” of the custodians and the government of India as provided under the said law.
 The Bill, moved by Minister of State for Home Ajay Maken, proposes to replace an Ordinance promulgated on July 2.
 Moving the bill, Maken said the courts had given various interpretations to the 1968 Act as a result of which the custodians were finding it difficult to sustain their occupation of such properties.
 The proposed legislation says that “no court shall have jurisdiction to order divestment from the custodian of enemy property vested in him under the aforesaid Act or direct the central government to divest such property from the custodian, but the court shall have jurisdiction to adjudicate whether the property claimed to be vested in the custodian is an ‘enemy property’ or not”.
 Enemy properties are those left behind by people who went to Pakistan during partition. There are about 2,000 such properties in the country.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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