The Cantonment Old Grants (Regulation) Bill, 2022 a proposal to put in place a mechanism for regulating old grant properties in cantonment areas is under consideration of the Government as said by the Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt in a written reply to Shri Kripal Balaji Tamhane.
The Cantonment bill relates to administration of cantonments with a view to impart greater democratisation, modernisation and efficiency. It also seeks to achieve greater developmental objectives in alignment with municipalities across the country and intends to facilitate ‘ease of living’ in cantonments.
The policy to regulate the extension/renewal of expired leases through a letter dated March 10, 2017 to the Ministry of Defence lately has been extended several times and nullifies on Dec 31 this year.
The Narendra Modi govt in 2021 approved legislations that sought easy compensation in liue of property procured from Armed forces.
Equal value infrastructure (EVI) development
Under the new rules, eight EVI projects were identified, which the acquiring party could provide infrastructure for in coordination with the concerned Service. The value of land would be determined by a committee headed by the local military authority – in cases under cantonment zones.
The Cantonment Act was first passed in 1924 to consolidate and amend the law relating to the administration of cantonments. Land is precious resource in India- a country that aspires to be an economic power. In 1765, the Britishset up the first cantonment in Bengal. In the subsequent years, the East India Company ordered- “No bungalows and Quarters at any of the Cantonments shall be allowed to be sold or occupied by any person who does not belong to the Army”. In 2020, the union govt had drafted the framework for the Cantonment Bill 2020, aiming to provide for development in special zones – considered virtually sacrosanct till now.
The idea of Cantonments was first mooted by the then Defence Minister Sharad Pawar. According to him, “remanents of a colonial past could be abolished for excess land to be utilized”. As per data by Directorate General Defence Estates, the MoD has about 17.95 lakh acres of which about 16.35 lakh acres are outside the 62 cantonments in the country. Reports mention, between 2017-2020, over 55 acres of encroachments or unauthorised constructions were detected on defence land.
