Problems with land rights

That the country has 146 separate laws governing the issue of land ownership is mind boggling. And many of these are overlapping, which make it immensely difficult for people to handle land ownership issues. We are not surprised to find that 80 percent of all cases lodged in courts are over land and that it can take an average of nearly ten years to dispose of a case. These were some of the findings brought out in a seminar in the city recently which assembled various stakeholders. With nearly 6 out of 10 people owning no land at all, unless laws are reformed to streamline procedures, there is a high probability that the vast majority of the populace will be left without land ownership.

From what information is available, we find that more than Tk24,000 crore is spent on land litigation. This is a massive drain on resources for the vast majority of people who can ill afford to continue court cases that can and do run for years on end. It is also a burden on the judicial system. Without reducing the current limits on individual ownership of land, the issue of marginalised and landless communities cannot be addressed properly.

If we are to take the data presented at face value, it would take the court system 27 million years to dispose of all the pending land-related cases. We feel many of the suggestions made in the seminar is worth serious consideration by the government. It is time to take cognizance of the fact that reform is urgently needed to simplify laws.