In order to bring uniformity in municipal laws governing civil areas of Cantonments and adjoining State municipal areas, it has been decided to consider to excise civil areas of certain Cantonments and merge them with neighbouring State municipalities, the Defence Ministry informed Parliament on Monday.
“Accordingly, broad modalities for proposed excision of civil areas in 58 Cantonments have been shared with State governments concerned for their comments,” Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. One Cantonment namely, KhasYol, has already been de-notified with effect from April 27, 2023, he stated.
The statement elaborated that the excision of civil areas and their merger with State municipalities involves active consultation and concurrence of the State governments. “Therefore, it is not feasible to provide any time frame for its implementation,” Mr. Bhatt said in the statement.
In this regard, Mr. Bhatt said that various representations had been received from public and elected representatives, and also from few State governments requesting for excision of civil areas from Cantonments. “There is no bar on implementation of State government schemes by State governments concerned in Cantonment areas. All State governments are already extending benefit of various schemes to the residents in Cantonments,” he added.
