Thaindian News

New Delhi, Feb 2 (IANS) Stung by a series of scams involving its land, the defence ministry will soon amend a crucial 107-year-old law that regulates buildings around military installations and also tighten screws to prevent local authorities from misusing clearances for property transfer.

Admitting to “gaps” in its land management policies, Defence Minister A.K. Antony gave these assurances to the Parliamentary Consultative Committee relating to his ministry at its meeting here Wednesday.

The defence ministry, in the last three years, has been hit by a series of land scams at the Sukna military station in West Bengal, the Colaba-based Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai near a naval station and the Central Ordnance Depot land in Kandivali on Mumbai’s outskirts.

“Suitable amendments to the Works of Defence Act, 1903, which provides for restrictions on building activity around defence installations, will be brought about to make it relevant to present day situations. The act has not been amended for the last over 100 years,” Antony said at the meeting.

He also noted that the government was looking at tweaking its “de-hiring” policy for land and property to tighten screws on the local military authorities so as to prevent them from misusing the system and leveraging the loopholes.

The ministry’s policy on mandatory No-Objection Certificates (NOC) for transfer of defence land and sale of government land adjacent to military installations too was being made stringent.

“In the backdrop of a series of cases relating to transfer of defence land for civilian use, the defence ministry will shortly be framing policies covering the issue of NOCs in cases where the local laws require consultation with local military authorities for construction of buildings on lands adjacent to defence installations,” Antony said.

Antony said the ministry was giving top priority to computerisation of land records and a number of decisions have been taken regarding land management and proper storage of important title-related records.

The defence ministry is one of the largest landholders in the country, only second to the railway ministry, with over 17 lakh acres of real estate under its control.

On the difficulties involved in defence land management, Antony said: “Under the constitution of India, land is a state subject. Even though we have our system of keeping land-title related records, yet there exists a revenue system in each state.”

“If the ownership for a particular piece of land tallies in both defence ministry and state records, then there is no problem. But in some instances, this is not so. Moreover, vested interests lose no time in exploiting gaps in the system,” he added.

In the first punishment to guilty in defence land scams, an army court martial had a fortnight ago awarded two-year loss of seniority, 15-year loss of pension and severe reprimand to a serving officer Lt. Gen. P.K. Rath in the Sukna land scam.

Former Military Secretary Lt. Gen. Avadesh Prakash is awaiting his court martial to convene in the same case.

In the Adarsh Housing Society scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation last week filed its First Information Report before a Mumbai special court and it has named several serving and retired armed forces officers and politicians, including former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan.

Participating in the consultative committee discussion, MPs suggested safe upkeep of defence land and their proper utilisation, besides computeridation. They also wanted the ministry to carry out a physical survey of land in its possession.

Among those who participated in the deliberations were Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee chairperson and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi and Congress MP Manish Tiwari. Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju, Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, DRDO Director General V.K. Saraswat and Defence Estates Director General Ashok Harnal also participated.