The government is planning to soon form a Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Land Dispute Resolution Commission for three years. It plans to amend the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act as the commission’s tenure expired last year.
This will be the sixth land commission, which will be headed by a retired Justice of the High Court. It will comprise circle chief (Raja) of the district concerned, the hill district council and the regional council (Anchalik Parishad) and the divisional commissioner of Chittagong division.
Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura, secretary of Chittagong Hill Tracts ministry, told the Independent that the land ministry has prepared a proposal to amend the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act. It would be placed at Monday’s Cabinet meeting for its approval.
“The amended Act will be placed as a bill before the upcoming session of Parliament after receiving approval from the Cabinet,” he said.
He added that the government will form the Sixth Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission after the bill is passed by Parliament for resolving the land disputes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The secretary observed that the local people of the CHT areas have filed at least 3,000 complaints with the land commission so far. But the previous commission had failed to settle the complaints, he noted.
Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura said they have proposed to amend eight clauses, finalised by the authorities, at a meeting held on April 2, without taking the opinion of the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Samhaty Samity (PCJSS). Representatives of the PCJSS had not attended the meeting as the authorities concerned did not inform them of the matter, he added.
He also said the land ministry prepared the proposal by approving the decisions of the CHT ministry. On 20 June, 2011, the CHT ministry, after consulting the PCJSS, had finalised a 13-point amendment proposal of the Act in the wake of the organisation’s demand for an amendment to the CHT land commission law.
The secretary further said the PCJSS recently sent a memorandum on the issue to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Section 6(1)(c) of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act says, “Any land that has been given in settlement in violation of the existing laws of CHT, shall be cancelled, and if any lawful owner has been illegally occupied on account of such settlement shall be restored: Provided that, this sub-section shall not be applicable in case of Reserved Forests, Kaptai Hydroelectricity Project area, Betbunia Earth Satellite Station, state-owned industries and land recorded with the Government or local authorities.”
According to the draft of Section 7(3), “Attendance of the Chairman and another two members on the meeting shall be necessary for maintaining quorum and the Chairman of the commission shall preside over all meetings.”
Section 7(5) of the draft Act says, “Chairman shall take decision on the basis of discussion with other members present on the areas of its activities along with the matter stated in section 6(1) unanimously and in case decision is not unanimous, his decision shall be treated as the decision of the Commission.”
Leaders of different ethnic minority groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are unhappy as the government has not implemented all the 32 points of the Parbattya Chattagram Peace Accord in the past 15 years. The accord was signed by the government and the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) in 1997. Till now, only 23 points of the peace accord have been implemented. Leaders of the communities expressed their hope that full and complete implementation would ensure peace and harmony between various communities in the hills.
-With The Independent input
