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| Photo: PCJSS press section |
On 18 May 2013 the ten parties, namely, Workers’
Party of Bangladesh, Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS),
Gonotantri Party, Gono Oikya, Samyabadi Dal, Gono Azadi League, BASAD,
Communist Kendra, Gonotantrik Mujdur Party and National Awami League (NAP)
organised a roundtable discussion at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity demanding to remove
all impediments in order to amend the contradictory provisions of the CHT Land
Disputes Resolution Commission Act 2001 as per decisions of inter-ministerial
meeting held on 30 July 2012 and 4th and 5th meeting of
the CHT Accord Implementation Committee.
The meeting was presided over by president of
Workers’ Party of Bangladesh Rashed Khan Menon MP and conducted by leader of
the PCJSS Dipayon Khisa. Dr. Asit Baran Roy, joint convenor of Communist Kendra
presented a discussion paper. Among others, convenor of Gono Oikya Pankaj
Bhattacharya, general secretary of Gonotantri Pary Nurul Rahman Selim,
president of Gono Azadi League Alhaz Abdus Samad, general secretary of
Bangladesh Adivasi Forum Sanjeeb Drong, teacher of Anthropology Department of
Dhaka University Dr. H K S Arefin, leader of BASAD Rezaur Rashid Khan, leader
of NAP Ismail Hossain, executive director of Institute of Environment and
Development (IED) Numan Ahmad Khan were present as discussant.
It is worth mentioning that on 12 July 2001,
just the day before the handing over charge to the Caretaker government, the
then Awami League government hurriedly passed the “CHT Land Disputes Resolution
Commission Act 2001” in the parliament without taking advice and
recommendations from the CHT Regional Council. As a result, the provisions of
the Act, which are conflicting to the CHT Accord and appear to be detrimental
to the interest of the Jumma people, remained undiscussed and unsolved.
With the grand alliance forming a new
government in January 2009, the CHTRC once again sent the recommendations to
the government on 7 May 2009 for consideration. After that, a dozen of meetings
over the amendment of contradictory provisions of the CHT Land Dispute
Resolution Commission Act of 2001 were held at different levels. But as of
today, the contravening sections of the Act remain as they were.
On 20 June 2011 Ministry of CHT Affairs
(MoCHTA), with the consultation with CHTRC, finalised 13-point amendment
proposals of the Act and sent them to Land Ministry for taking necessary
initiative to place Cabinet and Parliament for final adoption. Later on, Land
Ministry sent these the 13-point amendment proposals twice to the CHT Accord
Implementation Committee seeking its opinions and accordingly the CHT Accord
Implementation Committee adopted the 13-point proposal for amendment of CHT
Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act in its 4th and 5th meetings held on 22
January 2012 and 28 May 2012. Finally, the 13-point amendment proposals were
also adopted by the Inter-ministerial Meeting held on 30 July 2012 with the Law
Minister in the chair. However, as per the said decisions, the Act is yet to be
tabled before Parliament and amended. Even, the minutes/resolution of the Inter-ministerial
Meeting held on 30 July 2012 is yet to be prepared.
On the other
hand, the Land Ministry officials particularly the Land Secretary Mr. Mokhlesur
Rahman and other officials continued opposing the most vulnerable
recommendations of 13-point amendment proposals, such as, the Functions of
Powers of the Commission [section 6(1)(c)], Quorum of the Commission meeting
[section 7(3)], Procedure of resolving land disputes and adoption of decision
[7(5)] etc.
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Amendable
Sections of the Act
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Recommendations
of CHTRC & MoCHTA
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Section 6(1)(c):
Any land 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.
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To replace
Section 6(1)(c) with: “Any land has been given in settlement in violation of
the existing laws, custom and usages of CHT, shall be cancelled and if any
lawful owner has been illegally occupied on account of such settlement shall
be restored:”
and
to omit
“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.”
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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.
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Section 7(3):
Attendance of the Chairman and another three members on the meeting shall be
necessary for maintaining quorum and the Chairman of the commission shall
preside over all meetings.
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Section 7(5):
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.
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Section 7(5):
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 decision of
majority including the chairman shall be treated as the decision of the
Commission.
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On the face of
the opposition of the Land Ministry officials and Armed Forces Division of the
Prime Minister’s office, the Law Ministry did not make the minutes of
inter-ministerial meeting held on 30 July 2012. Alternatively, it is
learnt that, on 9 April 2013, the Law Ministry chaired by Law Minister
organised another meeting with the Land Minister Barrister Rezaul Karim Hira
and the Land Secretary Mr. Mokhlesur Rahman in which the State Minister of
MoCHTA Mr. Dipankar Talukdar and one Joint Secretary Mr. Basudev Acharya, Dr.
Gowher Rizvi (Advisor to the PM on International Affairs) and his personal
secretary Mr. Debabrata Chakraborty were present. The Home Minister Dr.
Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, who was involved in the process of signing the CHT
Accord of 1997, also was present. In the said meeting, amendment proposals of
CHTRC were reviewed again. The Land Secretary Mr. Mokhlesur Rahman placed
opinion for modification on few most vulnerable proposals and the said meeting
decided to prepare minutes as per opinions of Land Secretary which are against
the final decision of the inter-ministerial meeting held on 30 July 2012. It is
also learnt that based on this minutes, presently Land Ministry is drafting the
Bill for amendment of the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001.
If the CHT
Land Disputes Resolution Commission Act 2001 were amended modifying the most
vulnerable issues, such as, the Functions of Powers of the Commission, Quorum
of the Commission Meeting, Procedure of resolving land disputes and adoption of
decision, it would be more defective and it would create more complication in
resolving CHT land disputes.
With this
backdrop, the ten parties organised roundtable discussion demanding followings-
(1) to
stop such unilateral and controversial initiatives for amendment of the CHT
Land Disputes Resolution Commission Act 2001 as per opinion of officials of
Land Ministry including its Secretary and
(2) to
amend the CHT Land Disputes Resolution Commission Act 2001 as per decision of
the 4th and 5th meeting of the CHT Accord Implementation Committee and
inter-ministerial meeting headed by Law Minister held on 30-07-2012.
Following is the 13 point amendment proposal
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source: PCJSS
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