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Move for reform of land laws

Experts oppose draft of unified law


Published : 10 Apr 2021 09:34 PM | Updated : 11 Apr 2021 12:38 AM

The Bangladesh Law Commission is moving forward for a unified law to consolidate and revise all the existing land related legislations in the country.  

Law Commission sources said they have taken the initiative for enacting the ‘Bangladesh Land Act, 2021, with the aim to bring uniformity in land management and land administration in the country. 

If the law is enacted, a total of 22 acts as well as laws on land will be repealed.  The laws include the Vested Property Repeal (return) Act of 2001, amended in 2011, the Survey Act of 1875, the Court of Wards Act of 1879 and all amendments, the Non-Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1949 and 1l amendments, the NAT Act of 1949, the SAT Act of 1950, the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950 and all amendments, the Waqf Ordinance of 1962, the Release of Abandoned Building u/s 7 (1) and 8 of the Abandoned Building (supplementary provisions) Ordinance of 1985, and the Bangladesh Transfer of Immovable Property (Temporary Provisions) Order l42/1972. 

An official of the Law Commission told the Bangladesh Post that land disputes often lead to violence and criminal offences. Thousands of land related cases are now pending with the judiciary. Millions of people have been suffering from the land-related problems. Against this backdrop, the law had been drafted in a bid to ease the troubles of people and bring about further discipline in the land management, he added. 

The commission had published the draft on its website seeking opinion from all quarters. However, many legal experts are opposing the draft and opine that it is not necessary to enact a unified law in this regard. The existing laws should be applied properly for smooth land management. The legal experts said that if the law is enacted, it will curtail judicial power of the civil courts about the land question. Several sections, including Sections 17, 48, 61, 152, 176, 231, 264 and 271 of the proposed law, will curtail the power of the civil court. It will also affect the real estate business adversely, they added. 

Some lawyers have planned to write to the Law Commission urging it not to move further in this regard. 

Advocate Kamruzzaman, a lawyer of Dhaka, said that the draft law proposes that there shall be a Tribunal in each district which will settle land-related disputes. “It is not expected that the local administration will run the Tribunal. If such a tribunal gets judicial power, it will be contradictory to the constitutional basic structure, independence of judiciary and the separation of powers. So, we can’t support such a proposed law. We call upon the Law Commission to annul the draft,” he said. 

Talking to the Bangladesh Post on Saturday the lawyer informed that they will send a letter to the Law Commission seeking annulment of the draft.  

The proposed Section 264 of the draft law states that the Tribunal will settle disputes relating to the wrong record, partition, boundary disputes, unlawful possession and forceful possession. The Tribunal will be constituted with an Additional District Magistrate, nominated by the Deputy Commissioner (DC), as the Head, with the Assistant Commissioner (Land) and Assistant Settlement Officer, to dispose of suits. According to Section 231, action taken by the DC won’t be challenged in the civil court, while public servants can’t be challenged in civil or criminal court under section 232. 

Advocate Tabarak Hossain, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, said how is it possible that such a proposal comes from an institution like the Law Commission. It can’t be a proposal of law. There is no chance to consider it as a draft law, he added. 

Mohammad Towhidul Islam, a professor of Law at Dhaka University, said that the proposed law doesn’t uphold the idea of separation of powers between judicial and administrative organs as it will hand over judicial functions to the executive which is unquestionably a violation of the Constitution. He called for cancelling the draft. He hopes the draft won’t be placed before the Cabinet and the Parliament.