The Raja and the Act

What is the legal status of the Act?

For almost four decades,Mohammad Amir Khan,son of M A Ahmad Khan,the erstwhile Raja of Mahmoodabad,fought a legal battle claiming his father’s properties that had been declared ‘enemy property’ after the Raja migrated to Pakistan. Khan,an Indian citizen,argued that he was the legal heir to his father’s properties and that he had a right over them since he and his mother had not migrated to Pakistan with his father. In 2005,the Supreme Court directed the Custodian to return the Raja’s properties,spread across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand,to Khan. It was a landmark judgment but set off a flurry of similar rulings by many lower courts too. Worried about the fate of a large number of such properties worth thousands of crores,the Central government promulgated an Ordinance on July 2 this year to step around the 2005 SC ruling.

What was the effect of the Ordinance?

The Ordinance barred the courts from passing any order in the case of enemy properties. Simply put,this meant that heirs of those who became citizens of enemy countries could not press their claim to enemy properties in court.

Why has the issue of enemy properties come up again?

It all started in July this year,when the Centre promulgated the Ordinance. However,after sharp differences within the government as well as protests by some Opposition parties,the government allowed the Ordinance to lapse on July 28,the last date by which it must have been replaced by an Act of Parliament. On Wednesday,October 20,the Union Cabinet finally cleared the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Second Bill,2010,which will be introduced in the winter session of Parliament.

What are the amendments in the Bill?

The most significant amendment is the one that empowers the Centre to give control of properties only to the owner’s lawful heir,thereby giving the Centre the absolute power to take decisions on divestment,while debarring courts from ordering divestment of any enemy property. The catch here is this: since in most cases “heirs” have cited an oral will or oral gift of enemy property to them,the proposed amendments make it illegal to transfer any claim based on an oral will or gift. Also,the amended law would be applicable only in those cases where the enemy property was divested from the Custodian before July 2.

Will the amended Bill,once passed by Parliament,help the legal heir of the Raja of Mahmoodabad?

The Raja’s heir will be the biggest beneficiary of the amended Act. One of the clauses in the modified Bill says that in case an enemy property has been returned to the owner or his lawful heir by an order of the court before July 2,2010,such a person would be the owner of the property.