(Writ Petition No.: 1111/2015)

In the year of 1997 the Government decided to lease out Khas land to the landless people in Bangladesh, and to this end, on 16.04.1997 circulated “Agricultural Khas Land Management and Allotment Guidelines.” Pursuant to this Policy and Guideline, the Government leased out some Khas land to the landless people residing at Domar in Nilfamari, and executed and registered the Kabuliyat deed in their name. Now, at least fifty six (56) landless people have been residing at the Upazilla of Domar in Nilfamari, which have been allocated to those people through registered Kabuliyat deed. But the respondents to this Writ Petition failed to handover peaceful possession of the said Khas lands.

The petitioners’ lawyer submitted that the said Khas lands have already been allocated to the fifty six (56) landless persons by the Government under the aforesaid policy and guidelines. Moreover, transfer of these khas lands have been registered in their name. Hence, the Government is under a legal obligation to give possession of those khas lands to them. The petitioners have a constitutional right to be treated in accordance with law, as guaranteed under Articles 27 and 31 of the Constitution.

On 18th February, 2015 the High Court issued a rule asking several government authorities to explain why a direction should not be issued upon them to hand over peaceful possession of Khas lands. A Division Bench, comprising of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam passed the order upon hearing a Writ Petition (WP No. 1111/2015) filed in the public interest by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD), Action Aid Bangladesh, Nijera Kori and Transparency International Bangladesh, including 56 (fifty six) landless people).

The Court asked the respondents to explain in four weeks why they should not be directed to handover peaceful possession of the said lands to those 56 (fifty) petitioners.

The case is currently pending for hearing.