CHANDIGARH: The process of bringing six cantonment areas in Himachal Pradesh under municipalities has hit a roadblock. The state government has requested the Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) to transfer civilian area land along with its title rights free of cost to the state during the proposed excision of these cantonment boards.
Additionally, it has demanded a special grant-in-aid from the Centre to cover establishment expenses.
The move follows a new condition introduced by the ministry, stipulating that the land ownership rights would remain with the Union government even after transferring assets and liabilities from the army to the state governments.
Sources revealed that Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Devesh Kumar, wrote to the Director, Defence Estates, Western Command, Yogesh Kumar, on November 27.
The letter pointed out that the central government is only transferring the proprietary rights of the land to the state government for providing civic amenities and municipal services in the excised areas without transferring title rights.
A copy of the letter, accessed by this newspaper, stated, “In this context, on perusal of the guiding principles for excision of civil areas from cantonments and their merger with adjoining state municipalities issued by the Government of India, it seems that the Government of India is only transferring the proprietary rights to the state government over the assets for providing civic amenities and municipal services in the excised area without transferring the title rights over the land to the state government.
“You would agree that land is a basic factor for the socio-economic development of any area and, in the case concerned, due to rapid urbanisation in and around the cantonment boards, the ownership of land with MoD (GoI) may impede the development of social infrastructure (such as schools, anganwadis, hospitals). In addition, the laying of systems for better sanitation, drinking water, roads, and paths would also make the implementation process cumbersome.”
The letter further emphasised the need for full implementation of central and state-sponsored schemes for the welfare of civilians residing in these cantonments.
It stated, “The cantonment boards in the present scenario need the full-throttle application of the central and state-sponsored schemes for the welfare of the civilians residing in these cantonment boards, which requires the transferring of ownership over the built-up (except military stations) and vacant land to the state government, free of cost, on the analogy of cantonment board-khas Yol (Dharamsala) in the year 2023.”
Additionally, the state government highlighted the need for a special grant-in-aid from the Union Government to manage the establishment expenses, as the liabilities of the cantonment boards amount to Rs 30 crore annually—six times higher than their revenue generation of Rs 5 crore.
The letter also stressed the necessity of assessing the geotechnical feasibility before finalising timelines for separating assets. It stated that providing accessibility to military stations, alternate access to civilian areas, and joint civic amenities—especially in Jutogh and Dalhousie cantonments—needed careful planning.
This correspondence was in response to a letter sent by the MoD to the Himachal Chief Secretary on July 5, asking for feedback on the proposed excision. Earlier, on June 25, the ministry had introduced the condition that land ownership rights would remain with the Union government even after transferring assets and liabilities to the state governments.
This marked a shift from the ministry’s earlier stance, under which proprietary rights over all assets in excised areas were to be transferred to state governments and municipalities free of cost.
Himachal Pradesh has six cantonment boards—Kasauli, Dagshai, and Subathu in Solan district; Jutogh in Shimla district; and Bakloh and Dalhousie in Chamba district. The separation of civil and army areas within these cantonments has been a longstanding demand of locals, as they lack ownership rights and are excluded from state-sponsored welfare schemes.
Notably, on April 28 last year, Khas Yol Cantonment Board in Kangra district became the first in the country to be de-notified. Its civil area was excised from the cantonment and merged with the local panchayat body.