Who Owns Mhow?

  5. WHAT CAN BE DONE?

  Till now the government of Madhya Pradesh has not stepped in to fight for steps that can be taken in order to solve the problem of Mhow on a permanent basis .

  i) Negotiations with the Government of India

  The government of Madhya Pradesh has to put forward the case of Mhow before the Government of India and ask for the land of Mhow in the Cantonment to be handed over to it. The problems that can arise are:

  a) What will happen to the lands in the non-civilian area i.e., the Army area?

  Ans:The civilian area has to be bifurcated from the army area and only the

  civilian area be taken over while the army area be given to the Central Government for a token of Re.1 because the army area is of security concern and they cannot be under the civilian setup. Or as per the Land Acquisition Act the army has to acquire land from the State Government.

  b)Should the existing civil area alone be bifurcated from the Cantonment?

  Ans: No. the existing Civil area is too cramped. There is a proposal for extending the civil area. The extended civil area has to be bifurcated from the Cantonment area. The resumed bungalows will come under the extended civil area and will help ease the pressure on the population.

  c) What will the percentage of land that will be available for the army after bifurcation?

  Ans: Considering that the extended civil area is bifurcated from the present area still the army will have 75% of the land with them which will be sufficient for them. In any case the Army can acquire land as per the Land Acquisition Act from the State Government.

  d) What stand will the army take to stop bifurcation or the land being handed over to the State Government?

  Ans: The army has always been talking about "Security of the Country" whenever they had to present their case before the Courts of Law. They will take same stand.

  ii) Legal Option

  In case the Central government rejects the State Government's proposal then legal option is always available. The state government has to approach the High/Supreme-Court in order to prove their case for which all material is already available.

  Following sections of various acts only tell us that it is the Central Government which needs to prove their ownership.

  Under section 110 of the Indian Evidence Act 1872, "burden of proof as to ownership- When the question is whether any person is owner of anything of which he is shown to be in possession, the burden of proving that he is not the owner is on the person who affirms that he is not the owner."

  Under section 60 of Easements Act, 1882, "License when revocable-A license may be revoked by the grantor, unless-

  It is coupled with a transfer of property and such transfer is in force.

  (b) The licensee, acting upon the license, has executed a work of a permanent character and incurred expenses in the execution."

  A need of the hour is a solution to the Mhow issue. Otherwise the original/permanent residents of this place will be aliens on their own land.