Land act amendment needs public opinion input

Many people face land-related problems. However, a stalemate has been created in the dispute regarding land survey due to the formulation of a new law and the land ministry’s inaction. The crisis, which started in 2004, has not yet been resolved. Although the ruling Awami League has been in power for three consecutive terms, it could not solve the problem.

As per the act of 2004, land survey tribunals were constituted but very few. As many as 300,000 cases have been pending with these tribunals. Pending cases are not new in Bangladesh. Currently there are over 3.5 million under trial cases of various types. Of them, land survey related cases are in bad shape. There is progress in other cases. Appellate tribunals were supposed to be constituted as per the act of 2004. But the state did not do that. As a result the cases at the land survey tribunals remain unsettled.

The parliamentary standing committee on the law ministry has finally paid an attention to the issue. Law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister Anisul Huq said the law will be amended in the next session. Assistant and senior judges will be able to conduct the trials.
Currently 41 survey tribunals have been working across the country. Joint district judges are merely discharging additional duties at the tribunals. The hearing of the under trial cases is not being completed in due time. It is very important to carry out land survey properly. The real ownership of land depends on the accurate survey.

In an interview with Prothom Alo, the law minister said the law ministry held over a dozens of meetings with the land ministry to amend the law. The law ministry is fed up with the bureaucratic tangle of the land ministry. The recently retired land secretary said he does not think the land related cases will be disposed once the law is amended.

The law is under the land ministry. But the land ministry is totally silent over the matter. We hope the land ministry will give a clear statement before the amendment of the law. The opportunity of public opinion should not be bypassed.