Bribes of Tk 22.7b for return of vested property!

A claimant has to pay an exorbitant amount to recover vested property, an average of Taka 2 lakh 27 thousand per case. Half of this, that is, over Taka 1 lakh 13 thousand is spent on bribes. So far 200 thousand applicants have had to pay at least Taka 2270 crore (22.70 billion) in bribes to get back their property.

This picture of corruption was revealed in a study, ‘Results of Returning Vested Property and its Implementation Impact’.

The study was headed by Professor Abul Barakat of Dhaka University’s Department of Economics, who had been the first to conduct research on vested property in Bangladesh. Non-government organisation Association for Land Reforms and Development (ALRD) supported this study which was released at an event in the capital city on Sunday. This is the first research done on the ground reality of returning vested property.

State minister for land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury has said that the allegations of bribes might not be baseless, but perhaps exaggerated.

Sources in the land ministry said that the total amount of vested property in the country, as recorded in the lists A and B, is 9 lakh 62 thousand 692 acres. With the government cancelling list B, returnable vested property stands at 2 lakh 20 thousand 191 acres.

ALRD executive director Shamsul Huda has said, the claimants face extreme suffering to get back their property due to irregularities and corruption. This research was conducted to see the actual situation on ground.

The research was conducted in the seven districts having the most vested property. A total of 43 incidents pertaining to vested property cases were investigated, 46 specific individuals were interviewed, and various files and documents were analysed. The study was conducted from December 2016 till February 2017.

According to the study, owners of land area ranging from 1 to 50 decimals had to spend an average of Taka 2 lakh 66 thousand 66. Owners of 51 to 100 decimals of land spent Taka 1 lakh 31 thousand on average. And those owning over 100 decimals paid Taka 1 lakh 75 thousand 250.

Bribes began from even before the legal process was initiated, according to the study. A large amount of the bribe had to be paid to collect the documents from the tax collector and upazila assistant commissioner (land)’s office. Then the case remains pending inordinately with the court. Other costs include lawyers’ fees, commuting costs and a host of other expenses.

Abul Barakat said, “People have actually spent even more than what we managed to find out about the amount of money spent and bribes paid. If the uncertainty of the cases, the amount of time spent, the sufferings and such matters are taken into consideration, then the costs are 10 times higher than calculated.”

The sufferers point to four junctures as responsible for the delay. These are the union land office, the AC land office, the lawyers and the state prosecutor.

In the study, 90 per cent of the respondents said they were under constant mental pressure in their pursuit of getting their land back. This was because of uncalled-for costs, having to borrow money, and having t dip into their savings.

The Enemy Property Act was dawn up in 1965 during the Pakistan-India war. The land of the minority communities, Hindus in particular, was deemed as enemy property. They lost ownership of their land. After the independence of Bangladesh, the name of the law was changed to Vested Property Act, but it was not abolished. In 2001 the Return of Vested Property Act came into being, but no tangible measures were taken to implement it. In 2011 the government took fresh initiative to return vested property and till 2013 there have been six amendments in this connection.

The application process to retrieve property on list A began in 2012. So far verdict has been passed in 14,700 cases, but then these await the verdict of the appeal tribunal. Organisations involved in land rights have long been complaining about the delays and irregularities in these processes.

General secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddha Christian Oikya Parishad, Rana Das Gupta, has said that this injustice has prevailed for the past 50 years due to the corruption of officers and employees in the land ministry and the indifference of the law ministry.

The state minister or land said, “Those in charge of returning the vested property are not carrying out their duties properly.

However, we are continuing in our efforts.”

Economist Hossain Zillur Rahman told Prothom Alo that land has always been a problematic issue, but it is even more acute for those who are not in positions of power, such as the minorities. This has been reflected in the study.

Prothom Alo spoke to two claimants of land on list A. They did not give their identity as their cases are under trial. One of them is a businessman of Sherpur, Bogra. He had submitted an application to get back 3.5 bighas of land on the list A and two decimals of land in the town. These lands belonged to his father originally. He approached the court in 2012 and in 2015 the verdict was given in his favour. However, the government has appealed against the verdict and so it remains unresolved. He says the experience has been intolerable. Money was spent in the land office and he had to attend about 24 hearings. He had to pursue the various court officials to ensure the hearing took place. He said he had to pay as much money to the state prosecutor as to his own lawyer.

A woman in Gamjani, Tangail, got three bighas of cropland from her parents. Her parents had gone over to India during the liberation was and never returned. She returned with her husband to find the land was not only vested, but occupied. The court verdict eventually went in her favour but this has been held up by an appeal. He husband says that the government is treating them like beggars. He said the lawyers have made fat sums of money off them, building a multistoried house and buying a flat in Dhaka, but they themselves got nothing.

The study also pointed to the paucity of judges as a major reason for the delay in legal procedures. The judges tend to view the vested property cases as an added burden. And the state prosecutors intentionally drag the procedures on inordinately. Even the claimants’ lawyers purposely let the cases drag on for their own financial gain.