The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, by including the changes made by the Rajya Sabha last week. According to the Bill, the legal heirs of those who left for Pakistan or China are not entitled to inherit properties in India.

The revised Bill, which changes a 49-year-old law, was passed by a voice vote, reported PTI. The previous Enemy Property Act was enacted in 1968 after the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. “The purpose of [the] Bill is to clarify the 1968 Act. Inheritance law will not be applicable on Enemy Property… This will put an end to the long pending issue, which should have ideally happened in 2010 when the Bill was introduced,” said Home Minister Rajnath Singh (pictured above).

Singh also assured the House that there will be no human rights violations following the amendments. His assurance comes after a few MPs expressed their concerns about implementing the law retrospectively. “The law only applies on heirs of enemy property… The tenants of those property will be governed by the Tenancy Act,” said the home minister.

The government had introduced the amendment bill after the heirs of Raja Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan claimed rights on properties in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The matter is currently before the Supreme Court. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill, but a few amendments were recommended by a Select Committee set up by the Upper House.

Even before the Bill was passed, the Ministry of Home Affairs had identified 263 properties in Goa that belong to people with Pakistani citizenship. The plots, declared enemy property, are worth more than Rs 100 crore and are located in the Bardez, Bicholim, Salcete and Tiswadi areas. Enemy properties are estimated to be worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore.