Land ministry yet to receive list of sensitive cases

A high-powered National Executive Committee on Monitoring Land Related Cases, headed by Cabinet Secretary ASM Abdul Halim, took the decision in December last year.

The other committee members are Secretaries of Land, Information and Housing and Public Works ministries, Additional Attorney General, a Joint Secretary of Environment and Forest Ministry and a solicitor of Law Ministry.

"We are going to place the issue before the 10th meeting of the national committee scheduled for Thursday," a senior official of the Land Ministry told BDNEWS preferring anonymity.

Even the district commissioners (DCs) failed to inform the ministry about their reluctance to send the required information, he said.

The Land Ministry issued letters to the 64 DCs asking them to send detailed information about the sensitive and very urgent cases involving land in their respective districts following a decision of the 9th meeting of the committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary on December 26 last year, according to ministry sources.

Basically, DCs were asked to send the total number of the sensitive or very urgent land related cases in their respective district, a Land Ministry source said.

"But, why the DCs are remaining mum has become a matter of concern for the land ministry as the committee will seek the information at its Thursday's meeting," the source added.

The ministry has nothing to do except informing the committee about the DCs' reluctance to send the information, he said.

Another source in the cabinet division said the government sought the number of sensitive land related cases from all districts to take remedial measures as land is grabbed by powerful segment of the society.

The 10th meeting of the committee is being held after four months although it was to be held in February as per the decision.