Absence of appeal court, judge crisis cripple land survey tribunals
As much as 250,000 cases are awaiting disposal in the country’s 43 land survey tribunals, leading to the cropping up of complexities in solving land-related disputes.
Absence of appeal tribunal and shortage of judges have led to the situation, reveals a latest report prepared by the Supreme Court.
The report further said judges of the tribunals are dealing with on average 5,767 cases each.
The concerned law stipulates that one can file appeal against the verdict of the tribunal, but there is no court to hear the appeal.
Besides, the update work of the land survey law has not been finished as yet.
The report identified 13 problems based on the opinions given by 43 judges of the land survey tribunals in a closed-door meeting held in the Supreme Court on 24-25 December last year.
SC’s High Court division judges M Ashfaqul Islam and M Ruhul Quddus joined the discussion in the meeting.
Sufferers said persons fighting the cases are not being able to pay taxes before the final verdict, cannot change ownership and face problems in handing over the ownership of the land. Even they face problem in seeking injunction when it becomes necessary.
Contacted, law and justice affairs ministry’s secretary Abu Saleh Sk Md Zahirul Haque told Prothom Alo that they have sent a proposal to the land ministry to amend the related law to solve the problems.
“According to the proposal, the under trial cases can be settled by the courts of senior judges and senior assistant judges of the concerned districts. These disputes used to be disposed of in general courts before the formation of the tribunals.”
The secretary further said they would take initiatives to amend the law shortly after getting land ministry’s response.
In response to another question, Zahirul Haque said, “They are also considering the complexities in establishing the appeal tribunal having power equivalent to that of a High Court judge in districts. This is a difficult job.”
He went on saying, “And the district judges will hear the appeals against the verdicts of assistant or senior assistant secretaries. Then no appeal tribunal will require. This will expedite the case settlement rate by 50 times.”
Contacted, additional secretary at the land ministry Fayekuzzaman hinted that they have sent a proposal to the law ministry to increase the number of existing tribunals.
In response to a question on tribunal’s failure to dispose of the cases speedily, the additional secretary said the main objective of the formation of the tribunal is being hampered as the settlements are being done like that ‘civil disputes’ not as ‘survey disputes’.
He hinted that the survey department officials can settle up to 25 cases at ‘dispute level’ and 15 cases at ‘appeal level’ a day. The margin of error is not more than five per cent.
When contacted, Supreme Court registrar general Syed Aminul Islam told Prothom Alo on 11 June, “Chief justice SK Sinha took initiatives in this regard just after assuming office in January 2015. Secretaries to the law and land ministries took part in a meeting [held as part of chief justice’s initiative]. And to my knowledge, there has been no progress since then.”
Cases Per Judge is 5,767
According to the Supreme Court report, the number of cases per judge is 5,767 whereas the SC thinks that it should be about 1,500. The tribunals in 29 districts don’t have sufficient officials and employees and even the post of head-clerk has not been created as yet. The tribunals have only one process server each.
As much as half of the 250,000 pending cases saw no progress after they were filed by the plaintiffs, as the cases cannot be heard without issuing summons on the respective parties.
And several dozens of people need to be summoned in a single application.
A judge in Mymensingh is grappling with more than 33,000 cases. He couldn’t issue summons in half of the cases he is dealing with.
In 2012, the law commission advised the government to appoint 3,000 judges but no progress has been made in this regard so far.
No Appeal Tribunal in 13 Years
The SC report further revealed that most of the country’s 3 million pending criminal cases are land-related, but no appeal tribunal has been formed in the past 13 years. The law, however, says that one can file appeal challenging the tribunal verdict three months inside the delivery of the verdict.
The judges say that absence of the scope of filing an appeal has created two certain problems. One is: the tribunal verdict is not being implemented and the other is: the richer of those aggrieved at the verdict file writ petition with the High Court seeking a stay on the tribunal verdict, but the poorer cannot.
The existing law does not say anything what will happen if anyone of the parties involved in a survey-related case dies.
The tribunal doesn’t have the power to replace the name of the deceased with his or her heirs or drop the names, leading to the piling up of the pending cases.
Sufferers’ Reaction
The Kishoreganj tribunal is dealing with a maximum number of 44,390 cases. Districts’ senior civil lawyer Bhupendra Chandra Bhowmik, who is currently handling over 1,000 clients, said two years time was allowed in the district to file cases. No new cases are being accepted. Of his 1,000 clients, maximum 30 have been satisfied with the verdict. But his aggrieved clients are not being able to file an appeal against the verdict.
He expressed disagreement with the law ministry’s proposal to amend the law.
According to him, 13 assistant and senior assistant judge courts in the district are already struggling with a plethora of cases. If the ministry appoints them to settle land-related cases, it won’t be of much help.
He proposed to set up more tribunals across the country and to form 10 single-bench courts under the leadership of 10 High Court division judges to hear the appeal.
*This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Shameem Reza