Government moves on enemy property ordinance, then drops it quietly

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However, unsure of getting parliamentary support for the legislation, the government decided to quietly drop the move, even before the cabinet could discuss it.
Sources in the government told The Indian Express that the government was also unsure of the response of President Pranab Mukherjee who has in the last few months sent out a series of thinly-veiled warnings/suggestions to the government and the opposition on various issues, including functioning of Parliament and conduct of legislative business.

In fact, on October 23, just before he granted assent to the ordinance on arbitration and the other one providing for constitution of Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division in the High Courts for adjudicating commercial disputes of specified value, the President met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda at Rashtrapati Bhavan and sought some clarifications. He granted assent to the two ordinances only after Jaitley convinced him about the reasons why the two ordinances couldn’t wait till the winter session of Parliament, which begins November 26.

The Modi government, following in the footsteps of the previous UPA government, has clearly indicated its resolve to amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968. While the UPA government had promulgated the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, the Bill introduced in Parliament could not be passed due to various issues, including differences within the UPA government.

Since assuming office, the NDA government has taken the ordinance route at least a dozen times, with the first nine ordinances being promulgated in the first eight months of the Modi rule.

Upset with the series of ordinances, President Mukherjee had even gone to the extent of signalling to the government in January this year that the ordinance route should be taken only in “compelling circumstances”.