What is Enemy Property in India?

About Enemy Property:

• The Enemy Property Act 1968 defined an ‘enemy’ as a country (and its citizens) that committed external aggression against India (i.e., Pakistan and China). 
  • Enemy property means any property for the time being belonging to or held or managed on behalf of an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm.
  • These properties are of those left behind by the people who took citizenship of Pakistan and China after leaving India during the partition and after 1962 war.
• In 2017, Parliament passed the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which amended the 1968 Act and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.
• It expanded the definition of the terms “enemy subject”, and “enemy firm” to include the legal heir and successor of an enemy, whether a citizen of India or a citizen of a country which is not an enemy; and the succeeding firm of an enemy firm, irrespective of the nationality of its members or partners.
• The amended law provided that enemy property shall continue to vest in the Custodian even if the enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm ceases to be an enemy due to death, extinction, winding up of business or change of nationality, or that the legal heir or successor is a citizen of India or a citizen of a country which is not an enemy.
• Maximum number of enemy properties are in Uttar Pradesh - 4,991. West Bengal has 2,735, and Delhi has 487.