Hill Voice, 22 November 2024, Special Correspondent:

Various Laws making and amendment

The historic 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.

In section no.2 under Part ‘A’ of the CHT Accord, “Both the parties have agreed to make alter, amend and add to, in consonance with the consensus and responsibilities expressed in the different section of this Agreement, the relevant laws, regulations and practices according to law as early as possible”.

The three Hill District Council Acts and CHT Regional Council Act were formulated in 1998. The CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission (Amendment) Act 2016 was enacted owing to amend contradictory sections of the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001 in the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) on 6 September 2016.

It should also be noted that the CHT Regional Council has submitted proposals to the government to amend the voter list ordinance 1982, voter list rules 1982, CHT Regulation 1900, Draft Social Forestry Rules 2001, NGO’s procedures related to CHT. But the government has not taken any action in this regard except the Draft Social Forestry Rules 2001.

For making the said provision of the Accord effective, CHT Regional Council recommended amendment of 42 laws applicable in CHT including Police Act 1861, Police Regulation, Forest Act 1927 and 10 special laws relating to CHT including CHT Regulation 1900. But no government has taken any initiative to amend these.

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.