The government has taken an initiative to reform the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission, around 18 months after the expiry of the fifth commission’s tenure.
The move aims at returning the “illegally leased and occupied land” in the three hill districts to the repatriated indigenous people. The CHT affairs ministry has already started searching for an “efficient” person for the post of the commission chairman.
The commission would be reformed in consultation with the stakeholders after the ministry finds an appropriate person for the post, State Minister Bir Bahadur U Shei Ching told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday at his secretariat office.
The fifth commission served out its tenure on July 19, 2012 without resolving a single case. Retired judge Khademul Islam, the outgoing chairman, was appointed on July 19, 2009 for three years.
The commission had held 24 meetings. But, the representatives of the indigenous communities boycotted the meetings since the fifth commission began working. The Khademul commission invited controversies by emphasising a cadastral survey of the hill districts ignoring traditional land rights in the place.
Bir Bahadur said the government was working to implement all the conditions of the 1997 CHT peace accord which was signed between the then Awami League government and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) to end a decade-long spate of armed violence.
Some of the conditions have already been implemented. The initiative of implementing the rests would also be taken shortly, said the state minister.
The bill seeking amendment to the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission Act 2001 would also be placed in parliament soon after finishing all the legal procedures.
“It would reduce the complications to implement the accord fully as per the desire of the hill people,” he added.
The indigenous leaders say the land of the hill people, who had fled to India after August 1975 to evade the conflicts between armed group Shanti Bahini and the army and returned after 1997, was “illegally leased out and went to the grabbers.” They argue that the 2001 law had no mention of settlement of such land.
Resolving the crises regarding ownership and proper use of land, prioritising agriculture and ensuring peaceful atmosphere in the hill area would be his top priority as state minister, Bir Bahadur said.
An inter-ministerial meeting on July 30, 2012 agreed to amend 10 of the 13 demands put forth by the CHT Accord Implementation Committee. The 13 points were proposed by the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council and the CHT affairs ministry.
The cabinet on June 3 last year approved the bill prepared in line with the decisions.
The bill was placed in parliament for passage on June 16 last year. But, it was stuck as the parliamentary standing committee on land ministry failed to reach a consensus regarding the proposed amendments.
According to the CHT affairs and land ministry, the proposal would be placed before the cabinet again to get its approval before placing in parliament again.
The CHT Commission in October last year expressed concern as the land commission remained non‐functioning and conflicts related to land‐grabbing continued to take place in the region. Citing some recent examples in which indigenous people were attacked, it said the allegations of grabbing indigenous peoples’ land could only be addressed once the commission started functioning fully and effectively.
