CHT land dispute Act
Ministry to finalise rules in a month
DEEPAK ACHARJEE
The land ministry will finalise the rules of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission (Amendment) Act, 2016, within a month to resolve the land dispute in the three hill districts of Chittagong. The Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) passed the Act 10 months ago.
Sources in the land ministry said they are getting the draft rules of the act scrutinised by a team of experts headed by a joint secretary of the ministry before it is finalised.
Land secretary Dr Muzibur Rahman Howlader told The Independent that they are now scrutinising the two drafts rules of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission (Amendment) Act, 2016, received from the Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs ministry. We will call an inter-ministerial meeting within a month to finalise the draft rules, he said.
The ministry will invite the secretary of the Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs ministry, the chairman of the Chittagong Land Commission and other stakeholders to attend a meeting in this respect, he added. The secretary of the Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs ministry, Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura, told this correspondent that they had sent the
draft rules of the Chittagong Land Dispute Resolution Commission (Amendment) Act to the land ministry a few months ago.
We dont understand why they are delaying the process of finalising the rules, he said. The secretary said the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) has prepared the draft rules of the Act and sent these to the Chittagong Land Commission for further steps in this respect.
After receiving the draft rules of the Act from the Chittagong Land Commission, we sent these to the land ministry so that these can be finalised, the secretary added.
According to the draft rules prepared by the PCJSS, As long as this commission remains under the land ministry, it will certainly take an initiative on the land dispute after taking the opinion and advice of the Chittagong regional council and the Chittagong affairs ministry.
To execute the functions of the land commission properly, the local administration, the police, and all other organisations will have to provide all cooperation to the commission on a priority basis. If not, the commission can take legal action against any organisation or person concerned, the draft rules added.
On October 6, 2016, the Jatiya Sangsad passed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission (Amendment) Act, 2016, for removing the ongoing stalemate in the function of the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission.
However, the Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad, a students organisation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), protested against the Act. The people of the CHT have filed at least 3,000 complaints with the land commission so far. But the previous commission had failed to settle the complaints.
The CHT, spread over 5,093 square miles, covers Rangamati, Khagrachhari, and Bandarban districts. The region is flanked by two international bordersMyanmar on the south-east and India on the north. The region is mostly populated by tribes like the Jummas, Chakmas, Marmas, and the Garos.
Currently, people of the CHT constitute about 0.5 per cent of the population of the country. The density is about 113 per sq. km, against 1,147 per sq. km of the country. There are 13 ethnic minorities in the CHT, with Chakmas constituting 24.72 per cent.
