Khurshid had conflict of interest,says Jethmalani

The Bill,which was scheduled to be tabled in Lok Sabha on August 4,was withdrawn by the government after Salman Khurshid and some other Congress leaders met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and argued against it. The Bill was meant to replace an Ordinance which the government had promulgated last month to facilitate the takeover of properties which had been declared enemy properties.

The Ordinance was meant to undo the effect of a Supreme Court judgment,as a result of which had Raja Mehmoodabad had got possession of several properties which his father,who had migrated to Pakistan,had left behind and which the government had declared enemy properties way back in the 1960s.

Jethmalani,who is the advocate of tenants occupying these properties,described the withdrawal of the Bill as “a big scam” in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Home Minister P Chidambaram and Khurshid were involved.

Votebank politics should not come in the way of implementing the amendment to the Enemies Property Act,he said. “This is the property of Indian people,both Hindus and Muslims.”

Jethmalani said the amendment Bill is good and must be confirmed by the Parliament. “As per the Ordinance,no one can take back the properties from the custodian of enemy properties,” he said.

Such laws exist in every country because there are enemy citizens in every country. “No country leaves such properties. It is only a peace treaty that decides about enemy properties,” Jethmalani said.

Giving the background,Jethmalani said India had passed the Enemy Properties Act after the war against Pakistan in 1965. The Raja’s father had huge properties,both immovable and movable. As many as 2,100 properties were declared as enemy property. Of these,1,000 were left behind by the Raja,who had migrated to Pakistan after the the Partition,” he said.

The Raja’s father became a citizen of Pakistan and died in London in 1973. “At the time of his death,he was Pakistan’s Ambassador-at-Large,” Jethmalani said.