No plans to sell Jinnah House: Govt

The iconic Jinnah House, a sea facing bungalow in south Mumbai, is a government property and there is a no question of disposing of it, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Tuesday.

Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir told Lok Sabha that Jinnah House does not come under the purview of Enemy Property Act and it cannot be considered as an enemy property.

"Mohammad Ali Jinnah's House stands under the category of 'evacuee property' under the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950. Jinnah House is a Government of India property and the question of disposing of the said property does not arise," Ahir said in a written reply.

The question was raised by BJP MP Ashwini Kumar who asked whether the government considers Jinnah House in Mumbai as 'enemy property' and if not, under which category the property stands as on date. He also wanted to know in which manner the government proposes to dispose of the Jinnah House.

Jinnah House, which was initially known as South Court, is an unoccupied property in Malabar Hill, a posh area in Mumbai. The Pakistan founder had been residing here till he left India following partition. It was built in 1936 after he returned from England.

The Evacuee Property Act was passed in 1950 and it said that a person whose place of residence in pre-partition India, who departed on account of communal disturbances in 1947, may be declared to be an evacuee. Evacuee property means any property in which an evacuee has no right or interest, whether personally or as a trustee or as a beneficiary or in any other capacity.

However, the Enemy Property Act was passed after the 1965 Indo-Pak War. It defined that no heir of the owner of the property who left for Pakistan after the war does not have any claim on these properties.