New Delhi: You may have heard of sale of foreclosed properties by many banks. Banks recover their loan and interest from the sale of such properties. Similarly, some properties or assets are sold by the government at the national level. These assets do not belong to the borrowers but are ‘hostile assets’. The central government has recently started the process of selling enemy assets worth Rs. 1 lakh crore.
What exactly is ‘Enemy Assets’?
Property of citizens or firms settled in Pakistan or China after India’s independence has been declared by India as enemy property or assets. In this regard, the Government of India issued the first ordinance on 10 September 1959. Subsequently, another order was issued on 18 December 1971. The property or assets of the persons living in the enemy country is enemy property/wealth in the sense that all these properties are auctioned by the central government.
The central government had started the process in this regard last year. This includes properties of citizens who have left India and settled in Pakistan or China till date. According to the statistics provided by the central government, there are as many as 12 thousand 611 enemy properties in India today. Its estimated cost is a whopping Rs 1 Lakh Crore. These properties are currently in the custody of Custodian Enemy Property of India (CEPI).
Statistics of Enemy Assets by State
Meanwhile, according to the information given by the Centre, the highest number of enemy assets or assets in India are located in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh has a total of 6 thousand 255 i.e. more than 50 percent of the total properties. It is followed by 4 thousand 088 properties in West Bengal. There are 659 enemy properties in Delhi and 295 in Goa. The number of enemy properties in Maharashtra is 208. It is followed by Telangana (158), Gujarat (151), Tripura (105), Bihar (94), Madhya Pradesh (94), Chhattisgarh (78) and Haryana (71).
Who has the right to sell?
The central government has amended the rules in this regard and the sale of such properties can be initiated with the consent of the District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner. If the value of the property is less than 1 crore, then the person responsible for the property will be given priority for purchase. If they show their inability to buy, the property will be sold in the open market as per the regular process.
If the property is valued more than 1 crore and less than 100 crore, it will be auctioned by CEPI or Central Govt. So far, the central government has earned Rs 3,400 crore from the auction of such movable assets.
