Pranab Mukherjee gives assent to Enemy Property Ordinance

President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Fifth Ordinance 2016. It will guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after wars. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday had approved re-issuing the ordinance. The ordinance was re-issued as a bill to amend the law could not be passed in Parliament due to repeated adjournments over the demonetisation issue. 

To prevent the vested properties, the Ordinance for the first time was promulgated on 7th January, 2016. The



move is being made to amend the nearly five-decade- old Enemy Property Act to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after wars. 

An official release said, the amendments are aimed at plugging the loopholes in the principal Act to ensure that the enemy properties worth thousands of crores of rupees vested in the Custodian do not revert to the enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm. Thus, in the larger public interest and to safeguard the interest of Central Government, the Ordinance was promulgated.