Not issuing a single page notification in over 15 yrs ‘utter failure’: HC

The High Court has ordered the land ministry to set up a Land Survey Appeal Tribunal to dispose of appeals against judgments, decrees and orders issued by the Land Survey Tribunal, reports UNB.

The secretary of the ministry has been directed to file an affidavit in the court within 90 days after receiving a copy of the full verdict.

Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and justice Md Ashraful Kamal’s bench said this in the full text of verdict on the issue.

The HC bench delivered a short verdict on 25 July last year following a suo moto rule issued on 3 March 2015.

A full copy of the verdict has recently been published on the Supreme Court website.

According to it, millions of people have been suffering “extreme and limitless misery” since the land ministry failed to set up an appellate tribunal between 2004 and 2019.

Referring to how the father of the nation struggled throughout his life to provide hassle-free justice and took charge of a war-torn country and delivered the Constitution within nine months, the court said that not issuing a single page notification in over 15 years is an “utter failure” of the concerned ministers and secretaries of the land ministry.

The State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950 was amended in 2004 to form a Land Survey Tribunal and Land Survey Appeal Tribunal.