About 4200 acres of defence land had been given on lease to private parties under the provisions of the Cantonment Codes 1899 and 1912 and the Cantonment Land Administration Rules, 1925 and 1937.
These leases were given long time back, and the lease rent and premium (wherever applicable) was fixed at that point of time based on the prevalent land value.
This lease rent is enhanced as per the terms and conditions of the lease-deed which permit enhancement of lease rentupto 50% at the time of renewal of lease.
At present, the annual lease rent is about Rs.148 lakhs. There are about 6300 leases that were given to private parties. Names of private parties to whom leases have been given and the rent received are not maintained centrally.
Four Golf courses are running on leased defence land as per law on leasing of defence land. Key Location Plan (KLP) authorises open spaces and playfields in a military station / cantonment.
These open spaces and playfields help in maintaining the ecological balance of the area as well as in training of troops.
Many sporting activities including golf are undertaken on these open spaces. Defence land is also used for parks, clubs and institutes for recreational purposes of the defence personnel and residents of cantonment areas. Details of these are however not maintained centrally.
There is no proposal to establish a single unified authority. Under the existing arrangements, the day-to-day administration of defence lands including prevention and removal of encroachments is done by the user agencies viz. Army, Air Force, Navy, DRDO, Ordnance Factories, DGDE etc. to whose management the land has been entrusted. The records of all defence land are, however, maintained by the DGDE.
· The Government has under taken the following steps to check encroachment:- Digitization of land records and Survey, Demarcation and Verification of Defence lands.
· Detailed instructions emphasizing the need for ensuring vigilance, detection and prevention of new encroachments have been issued by the Ministry.
For removal of encroachments on defence land action is taken under the provisions of Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 as well as under the Cantonments Act, 2006.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri Uday Singh and others in Lok Sabha today.
