NEW DELHI, Aug 5: Land under the control of Defence Ministry was 305,886 acres before Independence while 824,484 acres of land were acquired after India attained freedom, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
In a wrtten reply, Defence Minister A K Antony said about 12,364 acres of defence land was under encroachment till September 2012. Action was taken for removal of encroachment under the provisions of Public Premises (Evication or Unauthorised Occupants Act, 1971 and Cantonment Act, 2006).
Asked about the handing over of 4.84 acreas of defence land in Jodhpur to private developers, Mr Antony said the land was handed over to the Major Maharaja Hari Singh Charitable Trust by local military authorities in August 2007.
Inquiries had revealed that army officials at Jodhpur had illegally transferred the lands with an alleged collusion of Defence Estates officials, he added.
The matter was before the Central Bureau of Investigation which had filed a preliminary inquiry report in the case, the Minister said.
(UNI)
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