Hill Voice, 28 November 2024, Special Correspondent:

Land Commission and Land Dispute Settlement

The historic Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord was signed on 2 December 1997 between the Government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) with a view to resolving the CHT problem in political and peaceful means.

Section No. 4 of Part ‘D’ of the CHT Accord states that a Commission (Land Commission) shall be constituted under the leadership of a retired Justice for settlement of disputes regarding lands and premises. This Commission shall, in addition to early disposal of land disputes of the rehabilitated refugees, have full authority to annul the rights of ownership of those hills and lands which have been illegally settled and in respect of which illegal dispossession has taken place. No appeal shall be maintainable against the judgment of this Commission and the decision of this Commission shall be deemed to be final. This provision shall be applicable in case of Fringe-lands.

According to Section No. 6, the tenure of office of the Commission shall be three years. But its tenure shall be extendible in consultation with the Regional Council. The Commission shall resolve the disputes in consonance with the law, custom and practice in force in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The Land Commission has been being constituted since 1999. Since 1999, 5 retired judges have been appointed as Chairman of Land Commission.

The CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act, 2001 was enacted in 2001. In the Act, several sections contravening to the Accord have been incorporated. The contradictory sections of the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001 had been amended through passing the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission (Amendment) Act 2016 in the parliament of 6 October 2016, after nearly 15 years of movement for the amendment of these contradictory sections. After amendment of the law, having the draft Rules of the Land Commission formulated, the CHT Regional Council submitted the draft to the Ministry of Lands on 1 January 2017 for approval. But the government has not yet finalized the Rules. As a result, the work for resolution of land dispute has not yet been started to this day.

CHT Land Dispute Settlement Commission meeting was held on September 4, 2016 after the amendment of the CHT Land Commission Act. The office of the CHT Land Disputes Settlement Commission issued a public notice on 8 September 2016 calling upon any person aggrieved to submit an application to the Commission in accordance with the provisions of section 9 of the Land Disputes Settlement Commission Act 2001, with application or application with sign of finger-tip on white paper directly or through a representative or by post. It is reported that 22,866 applications were received at the Land Commission Office in Khagrachari.

The CHT Land Commission has been constituted, but the Land Commission does not have adequate man powers, funds and logistics to work. Though the head office of the Commission in Khagrachari district and branch offices of Rangamati and Bandarban districts at the offices of Rangamati and Bandarban Hill District Councils respectively were established, these offices lack manpower, funds and logistics to work. At present, the functions of the Land Commission are stopped.

On the other hand, during 1980s and 1990s, some 46,750 acres of lands against total 1,877 plots located in Bandarban Sadar, Lama, Alikadam and Naikhyongchari upazilas were given in lease to individuals from plain districts.

In the meetings of Parliamentary Standing Committee on CHT Affairs Ministry held on 20 July and 18 July 2009 respectively at Khagrachari and Rangamati, it was resolved from among the leases given to the non-residents in Bandarban district, to cancel the leases of the lands in which no rubber plantation or grove plantation have yet been done as per the Accord.

In light of the decision, leases on some 15,000 acres of lands given against 593 plots were cancelled by Deputy Commissioner of Bandarban district and leases on some 350 acres of lands were cancelled by Deputy Commissioner of Rangamati district. However, at two-month end of cancellation of leases, violating the decision, most of the cancelled leases were restored by Deputy Commissioner of Bandarban district through irregularities and corruption.

In the name of lease, various companies continue to encroach on Jum-farming land and Mouza land of Jumma people and evict them from their ancestral land. One of the examples of this is that Lama Rubber Industries Ltd. has forcibly seized Jum-farming land of three Mro and Tripura villages of Sarai Union of Lama Upazila with the help of local administration and army. Since April 2022, Lama Rubber Industries Limited has attacked and torched three Jumma villages more than a dozen times.

In fact, after the signing of the CHT Accord, two-thirds of the clauses including the core issues of the Accord have not been implemented even in the past 27 years.