Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 17

In the backdrop of misuse of defence land and financial irregularities in the management leases consistently cropping up in various parliamentary and audit reports, the MoD has constituted a committee to study the optimum use of defence land for regulating its commercial exploitation.The committee, in an order issued earlier this month, has asked military establishments to furnish details of rent, licence fee, allied charges and other revenue generated from commercial establishments running on defence land for trend analysis.The ministry owns around 17.54 lakh acres throughout the country. The land is managed by the three Services as well as other organisations functioning under the ministry like the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Ordnance Factory Board etc. A small portion of land or buildings at military stations and cantonments is leased out to private parties for commercial activities like shopping centres for the benefit of local residents or for cultivation.The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has observed that the aspect of commercial use of defence land, its misuse and non-crediting of income from land and properties into government account by local military authorities are repeatedly objected to, but no tangible action has been taken to rectify the situation.Commenting on the “dismal” state of management of leases, the committee pointed out that 2,500 acres, valuing Rs 7,11,033 crore, had been given on lease, but the annual rent was only Rs 2.31 crore, which was a pittance given the value of land. Moreover, in several thousand cases, either no visible efforts were made to renew the leases or requests for renewal were not received or the status of leases was unknown. Unabated encroachments on defence land also continued.“Despite instances of unsatisfactory management of defence estates being repeatedly highlighted in audit reports, there was no significant improvement. Cases relating to misuse of defence land by the local military authorities, unauthorised occupation of land by the ex-lessees due to non-renewal of lease in time and consequent loss of revenue continued to persist,” the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had observed in one of its recent reports.

Committee’s brief

• To study the optimum use of defence land for regulating its commercial exploitation
• It has already sought details of rent, licence fee, allied charges and other revenue generated from commercial establishments running on defence land