THE GOVERNMENT’s floor management and Opposition outreach will be on test Monday on the contentious Enemy Property Bill, which is listed for consideration and passage in the Rajya Sabha on the first day of the Monsoon Session. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on March 9. Later, the matter was referred to a 23-member Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha. Representatives of SP, Congress, JD(U) and CPI have submitted dissent notes in the Committee’s report. After the wars of 1965 and 1971 led to migration of people from India to Pakistan, the government took over the properties and companies of such persons who had taken Pakistani nationality and designated them as “enemy properties”. Watch Video: Monsoon Session: BJP Reaches Out To Congress To End GST Stalemate [related-post] It vested these properties in the ‘Custodian of Enemy Property for India’, an office instituted under the central government. The new Bill seeks to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties. Maximum number of such properties are in Uttar Pradesh. Since elections are scheduled in the state next year, the issue could see sharp political polarisation when the matter comes before Parliament. Sharad Yadav, the leader of the JD (U) in Rajya Sabha, said, “We will oppose the Bill. It will open a Pandora’s box. We will talk to like-minded parties and oppose it jointly.” SP’s Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agrawal said his party was firm on its stand. Sources said Congress, Left and TMC were also unlikely to support the Bill. After UP, the maximum number of such properties are in West Bengal and Delhi. The BJP, however, is confident of pushing the Bill through. It will first place the ordinance copy before the House and then the Bill. Watch Video: What's making news The government is also giving priority to two other Bills related to ordinances — the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 and Dentists (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016, which relate to exemption from National Eligibility cum Entrance Test this year. In Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs S S Ahluwalia will lay each of the three ordinances. Health Minister Jagat Prasad Nadda will then introduce both NEET-related Bills. In Rajya Sabha, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will table the copy of the three ordinances. Later, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will explain the need for bringing the Enemy Property ordinance and then introduce the related Bill.
