CAG critical of Defence land management

Being the biggest landholder in the Government with 17.31 lakh acres, the Ministry of Defence has shown ineptitude in managing the land vested with it, according to the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG).

In a performance audit of Defence Estates Management, tabled in Parliament in the just-ended Budget session, the CAG said while approximately two lakh acres are inside the 62 Cantonments in various parts of the country, the rest of the 15.3 lakh acres of defence land are occupied by military stations, air force stations, naval bases, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) labs, firing ranges, camping grounds. Among the three Services, the Army holds almost 80 per cent of the land.

Stating that land records maintained by the Defence Estate Officers (DEOs) are the basic documents for managing the land, CAG said its audit disclosed “dismal performance on determining the requirements of land, on keeping land records properly and mutation of land in possession of the Services and others in favour of Defence Authorities.”

Lack of accountability

While orders issued by the Ministry laying down norms of requirement of land suffered from many deficiencies, the report said that this has given rise to “many acres of surplus land in possession of the Services and Cantonments, obviously making land management — in particular, to avoid encroachment and misuse — far more challenging than it would have been otherwise”.

Coupled with this, it said, lack of updated records and mutations in favour of the Ministry have created a situation in which there is complete lack of accountability.

Assailing the state of the computerisation of land records undertaken by the Defence Estate Organisation as being bereft of any progress with huge amounts of land remaining to be mutated in favour of the Ministry, the audit warned that “the state of affairs is fraught with risks of encroachment and land grab”. It urged the Ministry to set up a task force to undertake special drive to get all the land mutated in its name as early as possible.

Frame rules

Specifically, the CAG asked the Ministry to frame rules for commercial exploitation of Defence land and ensure implementation of them strictly. Details about beneficiaries of shopping complexes should be put in public domain on the Web site of the Ministry.

Revenue generated in the form of rentals and licence fees should be credited to the Government account with violation of rules inviting punitive action. It also suggested that powers to issue no-objection certificate to private parties for use of Defence land within the Cantonment for commercial uses, being an extremely sensitive issue, should not be delegated to lower authorities.

With a view to bringing about focus and professionalism in management of Defence land and to overcoming the problem of coordination among the multiple agencies in this regard, an independent authority must be established with the responsibility of management of all Defence land.

Such an authority should be an inter-service organisation (from all Services as also other agencies like Cantonment) with a Board representing all Services and the Ministry of Defence. Even as the authority should function on the lines of an autonomous body and preferably headed by the Minister of Defence, Director General, Defence Estate should function under the control of this Authority.

It further sought withdrawal of all powers vested with local military authorities and Defence Estate Offices to dispose of land including issue of NOCs in any form or manner to be solely vested with the proposed Defence Land Management Authority.

Finally, CAG recommended that in the interest of transparency in management of Defence land, details of land holdings including Old Grant sites should be in public domain on the Web site. Any transaction on them like issue of NOC, de-hiring of buildings should, it said, be put in the public domain within a fortnight of such transactions.

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