Lok Sabha Question No. 4996 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-31
Subject: Lease Agreement of Defence Land
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: NEIPHIU RIO

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4996

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 31 ST  MARCH, 2017

## LEASE AGREEMENT OF DEFENCE LAND

4996.  SHRI NEIPHIU RIO:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE j{kk ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) the total land area held by the Defence Forces all over India indicating the extent of land held but not covered by lease agreements and land under litigation, State / UTwise;
- (b) the detailed reasons for the defence authorities concerned not entering into a lease agreement for the 1235 acres of land being physically held by the Army since 1965 in Dimapur-Rangapahar, despite State Government of Nagaland agreeing on 16 th January, 2014 to a 99 years lease at Rs.1/- per acre per annum;
- (c) whether  Principal  Director  of  Defence  Estates,  EC  Kolkata  had  referred  in a communication to their local authorities at Jorhat regarding the Army holding 1433.611 acres of land in the area as per a survey in 2013 and if so, the action taken to regularise the surplus holding;
- (d) the action taken by the Government to regularise the excess holding and pay rental of the excess land and also return the excess land to the owners; and
- (e) the other steps taken for preventing lapses in executing timely leases?

## A    N    S    W    E    R

| MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE र ा रा य मं ी   | (DR. SUBHASH BHAMRE) (डा. सुभाष भामरे)   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|

(a) to (e): A Statement is attached.

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## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4996 FOR ANSWER ON 31.3.2017

(a) As per the data recorded in Military Land Registers, the extent of land held  by  defence  forces  all  over  India,  excluding  land  in  Cantonments,  is approximately  16  lakh  acres,  out  of  which  39,628  acres  (approx)  of  land  is under litigation. In addition, 67,658 acres (approx) of land is held by defence forces  under  hiring/requisition,  out  of  which  3,791  acres(approx)  are  under litigation. State wise  details of the  above  information  are  enclosed  as Annexure.

(b) to (d): Brief of the case is as under:

In 1966,  Government  of  Nagaland  allotted  1235  acres  of  land at Rangapahar to Army subject to two conditions:-

- (i) Vacation of Defence land at Dimapur;  and
- (ii) Payment of compensation for 100 acres of private land (out of 1235 acres) at Rangapahar.

Accordingly,  1235  acres of land  at  Rangapahar was taken  over by  the Army  and  compensation  for  100  acres  of  land  was  paid  as  per  Land Acquisition  Act,  1894  against  Defence  land  at  Dimapur  (356.10  acres  of Defence land under encroachment + 40.93 acres of Defence land in occupation of Army + 39.24 acres of State Government land in occupation of Army).

Subsequently, 115  acres  of  land,  out  of  1235  acres  of  land  allotted  at Rangapahar,  was  reported  as  encroached  upon  by  the  villagers  of  village Aoyimkum.

Further, in view of low build-ability of the said land, Deputy Commissioner,  Kohima  allotted  additional  492  acres  of  land  on  13.03.1969 which  was,  subsequently,  cancelled  by  the  State  Government  vide  Deputy Commissioner,  Kohima  letter  No  FIN-B/16-17/70  dated  27.09.1970.  As  per reports, 326 acres of this 492 acres of land was encroached upon by the locals and on balance 166 acres, Army built up assets. As such, these 166 acres of land remained under occupation of Army.

Government of India, Ministry of Defence vide letter No A/48867/Q3L(East)/2666/91/D (Lands) dated 06.06.1991, accorded sanction for exchange/transfer  of  397.03  acres  (356.10  acres  of  Defence  land  under encroachment  +  40.93  acres  of  Defence  land  in  occupation  of  Army)  of Defence land in Dimapur Town to the Govt of Nagaland in exchange for State Government land measuring 1020 {i.e. 1235-(100+115} acres at Rangapahar.

However, the Govt sanction for mutual exchange of land could not be acted upon for want of approval of the State Govt of Nagaland since 1991 for obtaining  the defence land on lease. It was only on 16.01.2014, approval was

given in the Cabinet meeting of the State Government for  handing over State Government  land in  Rangapahar  and  taking  over  Defence  land  and  defence occupied State Govt land in Dimapur on execution of lease agreement between Government of Nagaland and Ministry of Defence. On examination  of  the  Draft  Lease  Agreement  forwarded  by  the  State Govt,  it  was  observed  that  the  said  Agreement  was  for  Defence  land  to  be leased out to State Govt at Dimapur, whereas for mutual exchange of land, the details of State Govt land to be leased out to the MoD were also required to be listed in the agreement. Since there were certain discrepancies in the details of land, clarifications were sought from the State Government on 15.10.2016. The requisite clarifications are still awaited from the State Government. Thus,  it  may  be  appreciated  that  the  lease  agreement  could  not  be executed for want of  clarifications from the State  Government  regarding  the details of land that are to be exchanged. It  has  been  reported  by  Principal  Director  Defence  Estates,  Eastern Command,  that  Station  Headquarters,  Dimapur  vide  convening  order  No L/3247/Q  dated  10.07.2013  convened  a  Board  of  Officers  to  carry  out  joint survey of the  entire  land  at  Rangapahar Military  Station (RMS) including the disputed boundaries of RMS. The  joint survey was carried out with the help of Electronic  Total  Station    in  the  presence  of  representatives    of  Deputy Commissioner  (D.C.),  Dimapur,  Army,  villagers  and  Defence  Estates  Officer (DEO), Jorhat from 16.07.2013 and onwards.  As per physical survey, the total area under occupation was 1433.611 acres against the recorded land holding of 1431.89 acres. However, the representatives of Army and DC have not signed the Board Proceedings. The details of  the land  under occupation  are  awaited  from  the Local Military Authority (LMA) and the State Government. Once the exact area of the surplus land along with its details are made available and duly completed Board Proceedings are submitted, then action to regularise the unauthorised occupation will be initiated. DEO Jorhat  has  been  advised  to  liaise  with  the  concerned  Army  and State  Government  authorities  to  resolve  the  long  pending  issues  at  the

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(e) earliest.

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED IN THE REPLY GIVEN IN THE STATEMENT IN   PART (a)  OF  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  4996  FOR  ANSWER  ON 31.3.2017

## DETAILS OF LAND HELD BY DEFENCE FORCES ALL OVER INDIA (IN ACRES):

| Sl. No.   | State / UT                 | Total area of land held by defence forces as per record   | Area under Hiring/Requisitioning   | Area under Hiring/Requisitioning   | Extent of land under occupation of defence without execution of lease agreement or payment of rental   | Extent of land under litigation   | Extent of land under litigation   |
|-----------|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|           |                            |                                                           | (d)                                |                                    | compensation                                                                                           | out of Col (c)                    | out of Col (d)                    |
| (a)       | (b)                        | (c)                                                       | Hired Requisitioned                |                                    | (e)                                                                                                    | (f)                               | (g)                               |
| 1         | A&N Island(UT)             | 8166                                                      | 0                                  | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 0                                 | 0                                 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh & Telangana | 32963                                                     | 2675                               | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 155                               | 2398                              |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh          | 4787                                                      | 535                                | 0                                  | 5810                                                                                                   | 951                               | 203                               |
| 4         | Assam                      | 25493                                                     | 3430                               | 0                                  | 108                                                                                                    | 87                                | 0                                 |
| 5         | Bihar                      | 11002                                                     | 7                                  | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 1                                 | 0                                 |
| 6         | Chandigarh                 | 176                                                       | 0                                  | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 0                                 | 0                                 |
| 7         | Chhattisgarh               | 1582                                                      | 0                                  | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 0                                 | 0                                 |
| 8         | Delhi                      | 2938                                                      | 133                                | 0                                  | 614                                                                                                    | 0                                 | 0                                 |
| 9         | Goa                        | 3026                                                      | 1                                  | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 0                                 | 0                                 |
| 10        | Gujarat                    | 23850                                                     | 24                                 | 0                                  | 108                                                                                                    | 1149                              | 0                                 |
| 11        | Haryana                    | 29563                                                     | 0                                  | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 30                                | 0                                 |
| 12        | Himachal Pradesh           | 4130                                                      | 189                                | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 4                                 | 0                                 |
| 13        | Jammu & Kashmir            | 19540                                                     | 1605                               | 24156                              | 5042                                                                                                   | 1455                              | 87                                |
| 14        | Jharkhand                  | 6179                                                      | 232                                | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 0                                 | 7                                 |
| 15        | Karnataka                  | 31518                                                     | 575                                | 0                                  | 16                                                                                                     | 17                                | 34                                |
| 16        | Kerala                     | 4945                                                      | 190                                | 0                                  | 1                                                                                                      | 0                                 | 0                                 |
| 17        | Lakshadweep                | 40                                                        | 0                                  | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 0                                 | 0                                 |
| 18        | Madhya Pradesh             | 214538                                                    | 9301                               | 0                                  | 839                                                                                                    | 84                                | 0                                 |
| 19        | Maharashtra                | 116698                                                    | 13011                              | 6                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 2277                              | 0                                 |
| 20        | Manipur                    | 1294                                                      | 0                                  | 0                                  | 0                                                                                                      | 2                                 | 0                                 |

......2/-

:  2  :

| 21          | Meghalaya     | 3587        | 0           | 0           | 0           | 0           |    0 |
|-------------|---------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|------|
| 22          | Mizoram       | 0.2         | 220         | 0           | 0           | 0           |   94 |
| 23          | Nagaland      | 551         | 1022        | 0           | 0           | 0           |    0 |
| 24          | Odisha        | 18016       | 0           | 0           | 0           | 0           |    0 |
| 25          | Puducherry    | 20          | 0           | 0           | 0           | 0           |    0 |
| 26          | Punjab        | 68840       | 435         | 0           | 9           | 3           |   53 |
| 27          | Rajasthan     | 815363      | 804         | 0           | 5320        | 32007       |    7 |
| 28          | Sikkim        | 3078        | 1116        | 0           | 101         | 0           |  876 |
| 29          | Tamil Nadu    | 18503       | 501         | 0           | 19          | 7           |    0 |
| 30          | Tripura       | 2680        | 0           | 0           | 0           | 0           |    0 |
| 32          | Uttar Pradesh | 75500       | 113         | 0           | 0           | 768         |    0 |
| 33          | Uttarakhand   | 11591       | 289         | 0           | 9           | 1           |    0 |
| 34          | West Bengal   | 39623       | 7088        | 0           | 10          | 632         |   31 |
| 43495 24163 | 43495 24163   | 43495 24163 | 43495 24163 | 43495 24163 | 18007 39628 | 18007 39628 | 3791 |

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