CG grants extension to 56 Cantonment Boards including ACB

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The three-member bodies of 56 Cantonment Boards across the country, including our city, whose term was set to expire on February 10, 2025, have been granted an extension by the Central Government from February 11, 2025, for one year or until the establishment of these boards under Section 12 of the Cantonment Board Act.

The Ministry of Defence made this decision on December 31, 2024, and announced it through a gazette notification signed by Joint Secretary Rakesh Mittal. As a result, the three-member board of the Aurangabad Cantonment Board, consisting of the President (Brigadier), the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the board, and the public representative Prashant Targe, has been granted an extension.

Handing over the process pending

The process of transferring nine Cantonment Boards has been incomplete for the past six months. Since 2023, the transfer of boards to nearby municipalities and municipal corporations has been a topic of discussion in the country. In the first phase, the Central Government showed approval for the transfer of only Deolali and nine boards across the country in a meeting held on June 25, 2024. The guidelines for this transfer were issued on June 28, 2024. However, the transfer process remains incomplete.

Therefore, a final meeting regarding the transfer of the nine Cantonment Boards, including Deolali in Maharashtra and those in Dehradun-Clement Town, Nasirabad, Ajmer, Babina, Mathura, Fatehgarh, and Shahjahanpur, has been scheduled for January 9, 2025, in New Delhi. The Director of Defence Estates, the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the Cantonment Boards, and the Defence Estates Officers (DEOs) have been requested to attend the meeting in person, as notified by the Deputy Director of Cantonment Boards, Amit Kumar, to the Principal Directors via email on December 24, 2024.