Question : Defence Land

(a) whether unused defence land at various places in the country has been encroached by the private builders and land mafia and if so, the details thereof, State / UT-wise;

(b) whether the Supreme Court has recently directed the Union Government to create a ‘unified authority’ to take urgent steps to free thousand acres of defence land which has been encroached upon and is being commercially exploited by the land mafia’s;

(c) if so, the action contemplated by the Union Government on the directions of the Supreme Court in this regard;

(d) the extent of encroached defence land increased in the past few years with reasons therefor and the steps Union Government has taken to get the encroached land free from land mafias; and

(e) whether the Government proposes to allot the unused defence land to common people in public interest and if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE (DR. SUBHASH BHAMRE)
IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
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(a) Defence lands to the extent of approximately 10220 acres are, presently under encroachment by various agencies of Central and State Government/PSUs, slums and other private persons. In a case of land grabbing at Lohegaon, Pune, which came to the light of the Ministry, revenue records were got corrected and the case was handed over to CBI. No further specific cases of encroachment of Defence land by private builders and land mafia have been reported by the Services, Directorate General of Defence Estates and other Defence Organizations.

(b) & (c): No, Madam. A Writ Petition(Civil) No. 19 of 2016 has been filed in Hon’ble Supreme Court by Shri S.N. Bhardwaj Advocate with the prayer seeking direction to Union Government, inter-alia, on creation of a ‘single unified authority’ to look into management and protection of defence lands. Hon`ble Supreme Court has issued notice in the matter.

(d) The extent of Defence land as on 31/03/2013 was 11456 acre, which has been reduced to 10220 acre at present.

Further, Detection, prevention and removal of encroachments is an ongoing process. While old encroachments are being removed gradually, due efforts are being made not to allow new encroachments and to take prompt action against such cases.
Following steps have been taken to remove encroachments from Defence land:

(i) Defence land records management system has been strengthened by computerization of defence land records held by Defence Estates Officers and Cantonment Boards.

(ii) Court cases are being pursued to evict encroachers.
(iii) Close liaison is being maintained with revenue and civil police authorities to detect attempt to encroach upon the defence land by encroachers.

(iv) State authorities are approached for removal of encroachers.

(v) Defence lands located in isolated locations are fenced and regular patrolling is being carried out to safeguard the land from encroachers and unauthorized construction.

(vi) Verification of Defence land is being carried out regularly through Board of Officers, with the representatives of Defence Estates Officers and Land Revenue Authorities.

(vii) Eviction notices are issued from time to time as per due process of law under the provisions of PPE Act,1971.

(e) There is no proposal to allot defence land to common public. Certain Defence lands which appear to be lying vacant/ unused are meant for use by Military Establishments for purposes such as training, mobilization practice, sports, parade, Construction of Key Location Plans (KLP) and Married Accommodation etc. However, whenever defence land is required for public utility or infrastructure development projects, MoD allots such land to the concerned Central or State Govt. authorities provided strategic and security interests are not adversely affected.
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