Land-related disputes: Act being planned to handle offences

The government is contemplating on 'Prevention and Remedies of Land Related Offences Act' to reduce the number of land-related lawsuits as it thinks the major share of the country's criminal and civil cases originate from land disputes.

Once enacted, according to an official document, the government thinks that it will enable immediate trial of the land-related offences and reduce the number of criminal and civil cases involving land.

As per available data, nearly 3.7 million cases remain pending at courts, including the Supreme Court.

To reduce the number of land-related lawsuits, the government has taken steps to reform existing laws and regulations and introduce new ones, the document says.

The government has taken steps to complete quickly and timely the e-mutation in land management, collection of land development tax online, and distribution of ledger and mouza map through the postal department, it says.

The e-mutation activities have been introduced in a total of 487 Upazila and Circle Land Offices and 3,617 Union Land Offices across the country, except in three hill districts.

"This has reduced time, cost, travel, suffering and harassment of the people," according to the document.

Service Portal (land.gov.bd) or Call Center (16122) or Union Digital Center (UDC) has been launched. It is because of these interventions, landowners at any time from any part of the world can get QR code enriched receipts instantly for paying land development tax online.

It says that Bangladesh has recently been awarded prestigious "World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)" for successfully implementing the online Land Development Tax System.

Steps have been taken to deliver e-Record of Right (ROR) called Khatian to the citizens through the Bangladesh Postal Department.

Moreover, arrangements have been made to get printed Records of Rights immediately by setting up kiosks in various populated places.

A call center has been set up through which people can lodge any complaints and receive any services related to land.

The document also said that steps have been taken to establish a link between e-registration and e-mutation system to simplify land service and improve its quality.

It says sub-registrars will be able to verify the land records from the Digital Record Room System online before land registration because of this.

Similarly, the Assistant Commissioner (Land) will get the documents of registration and information of the land sold through the e-mutation system along with the registration, based on which the mutation process can be started automatically.

Once the e- mutation is connected with the e-registration across the country, the suffering of the people will be reduced and the relevant land records will be updated automatically. As a result, the chances of lawsuits and forgery will be reduced, it says.

As part of digital land management, arrangements have been made to upload all information related to acquired land and Sairat Mahal.

There are initiatives to preserve all the information in Land Information Bank related to waterbody, balumahal, khas land, vested property, hat-bazar, tea garden, chingrimahal and all information related to the acquired land.

"As a result, it is possible to get all the information related to the leased and settled land, Sairat Mahal, the public landed property immediately," the document says. "The Land Information Bank is also playing an important role in making decisions regarding land acquisition and land allotment," it says.