Chandigarh: The government’s recent abrupt and seemingly peremptory seizure of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) sports complex, adjoining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Kalyan residential estate in Lutyens’ Delhi, which was formally completed on November 5 on an “as-is-where-is” basis, raises questions that go well beyond the loss of just a recreational facility.At issue is the arbitrary manner in which the 39.5-acre complex was reclaimed by the Land and Development Office (L&DO) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the absence of any clearly disclosed plan for its future use and, more significantly, the government’s disregard of a personal appeal by Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to reconsider the takeover.According to a slew of media reports citing unnamed officials, ACM Singh had made a behind-the-scenes attempt to stop the seizure, writing a detailed letter to the Defence Minister on October 26 and urging him to intervene to keep the complex under IAF control, citing the operational and administrative requirements of the adjoining Race Course Air Force Station.He also reportedly followed this up with a discreet personal meeting with Rajnath Singh on October 29, just two days before his retirement, but both attempts proved futile.The complex had already been sealed on October 28, “until further orders”, depriving Singh of the customary farewell golf game, a long-standing IAF tradition marking the end of an Air Chief’s tenure. The L&DO’s seizure also ruled out even a temporary postponement of the complex’s appropriation to allow the outgoing Air Chief to be ‘golfed out’. Many serving and veteran IAF officials said this was a simple courtesy that could easily have been extended to the IAF chief.Beyond a golf course, sundry sporting facilities and a gymnasium, the complex provides administrative support to Air Headquarters and infrastructure for more than 5,000 IAF personnel. Its facilities also include accommodation, training centres for airmen and Vayu Agniveers, medical services, a school, security arrangements and a unit-run canteen.The IAF is also believed to have cited the Air Force Station’s role in dealing with unmanned aerial system threats during activities coordinated by the Delhi Integrated Air Defence Centre to the Defence Minister but, once more, fruitlessly.Also read: Union Government Sends Eviction Notice to Delhi Gymkhana ClubMeanwhile, a broad cross-section of current and retired IAF personnel were incensed by the manner in which the complex was “arrogated”, with the government yet to explain what it intended to do with the property.“Broad references to public purpose and institutional requirements are no substitute for a clear account of its proposed use”, said a three-star veteran and long-term member of the complex, who declined to be named for fear of adverse consequences. Reclaiming the complex is one thing, but explaining what its land will now be used for is quite another, he fumed.The takeover of the IAF complex is part of a wider reclamation drive around Lok Kalyan Marg, which includes the already completed confiscation of the adjoining 53-acre Delhi Race Club and the contiguous 15.2-acre Jaipur Polo Ground. Proceedings to acquire the nearby 27-acre Delhi Gymkhana Club premises too are under way, with legal challenges filed by irate members to frustrate its occupation scheduled for a hearing later this month.The government’s stated justifications for this “land grab” of some of the world’s most expensive real estate have included nebulous references to “national security, defence and institutional requirements”. But it has offered little by way of a clear explanation of what the land is actually required for.“Reclaiming land already being used by the military, without first explaining why it is needed, is an exercise in political and bureaucratic high-handedness,” said the aforementioned veteran. It also sends a “deeply troubling message” that even long-established military requirements can be brushed aside when they come up against the government’s appetite for prime real estate, he added.Alongside, there is also an ecological dimension to this widespread land reclamation in the heart of Delhi, as it all largely comprises substantial green spaces, mature trees and open grounds that provide some relief in an increasingly congested and polluted city, where the air quality index (AQI) presently is 17 times the World Health Organisation’s recommended safe limit, following Diwali.Any change in use of these acres, particularly if it involves large-scale construction or commercial development – as it well might – could further erode the city’s rapidly shrinking green cover, further depreciating the AQI.Other veterans said the issue also raised a larger question about the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) towards the armed forces. They asserted that the MoD was not simply another government department involved in the transfer of land from one ministry to another, but one expected to safeguard the interests of the armed forces and to ensure they had the land, buildings and other facilities needed to carry out their duties.Also read: Gymkhana Club, Race Course and Polo Ground: India’s Midnight Children and Their Vanishing World“If another ministry wants to take over property being used by the services, the MoD must examine the military’s requirements, establish whether the land can be spared and ensure that the service concerned is not left short-changed,” said a retired two-star fighter pilot.“When the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry moves to reclaim property being used by any of the armed forces, the MoD should examine the case, weigh the competing requirements and adequately explain the decision,” the former pilot said.That, he said, also requesting anonymity, is precisely why ACM Singh’s direct appeal to Rajnath Singh mattered, as it suggested that normal channels had failed to settle the disagreement. “The fact that even the ACM’s appeal failed in rectifying matters raises disquieting questions,” he said.But the issue goes well beyond the loss of an armed forces sports complex. It is about the brusque manner in which a facility used by the IAF for decades has been taken over, apparently without meaningful consultation with the service, any explanation for rejecting its objections or even an indication of what, if anything, would be provided in place of the facilities that were being lost.“The entire exercise appears to have been conducted behind closed doors, leaving serving personnel and veterans to piece together the reasons from media reports,” said a veteran member of the complex.The entire affair is shrouded in mystery, he remonstrated, declining to be named. The government, he conceded, may have the authority to reclaim its land, even from the military, but that does not exempt it from explaining its actions. Overall ‘malkiat’ or ownership, he stated, gives it the right to take such a decision, but not the ‘licence’ to evade all accountability for it.