There was a time in this part of the world when people used to curse their rivals seeking Divine intervention in getting the latter entangled in civil litigation, a very time consuming and expensive affair.
The dispute over land among close relatives and neighbours was the main source of litigation, particularly in rural areas. The prayers of the rivals used to be mainly fulfilled through land-related disputes.
Time has changed. Courtesy better communications network and improved technology, the distance between the rural and the urban population has largely been reduced. The literacy rate has gone up considerably. Bangladesh is envied even by large neighbours for its achievement as far as its human development indices are concerned. Â
But disputes over land do still dominate the judiciary of a country where land has become more precious than gold. The prices of land both in urban and rural areas have gone up astronomically over the last three decades.
The state of land disputes in the country has been revealed in a recent study, jointly carried out by the Policy Research Institute (PRI) and the Human Rights and Legal Aid Services (HRLS). The outcome of the study was made public at a function held in Dhaka last Monday.
The study, based on its findings, estimates that there could be 2.0 million land-related litigations in the country's formal judiciary. These are civil litigations. But there are also criminal cases involving land. The land-related cases represent nearly 70 per cent of all litigations in the formal judiciary.
High costs and enormous hassles are involved in related litigation cases between the rivals who are prompted by circumstances to seek legal redress to their problems. Such cases entail multi-faceted problems. The reasons here are still equally strong. The PRI-HRLS study has found that the average cost of litigation in a land-related case is equivalent to 45 per cent of the concerned household's annual income. And there are cases which have not been settled even after 60 years.
The majority of the land-related litigations have originated from rural areas. There are certain reasons behind this. The study has found that half of the land parcels, taken as samples, are maintained through unregistered documents. These parcels are usually inherited ones and main sources of litigation in the formal judiciary. Â
In rural areas, the successors concerned do not take the trouble of getting the inherited land registered in their own names because of the hassles and costs involved in the process. The system is often passed on from one generation to another, creating scopes for unwanted troubles, particularly during the transfer of land.
The situation is far better in urban areas where people are, in most cases, take special care in colleting all necessary documents against their land, inherited or otherwise. One can hardly do anything with their land unless the same is properly registered.
The civil litigations over land dispute not only exacts a heavy cost from the parties involved but also cause enough of mental stress and strains to them. It has been found time and again that the delay in disposal of civil cases, generally, is deliberate. The lawyers of both the plaintiffs and the respondents and court officials develop an unholy alliance to milk both the contesting sides as long as possible. There are instances where relatively weaker parties have become paupers to meet the costs of litigation.
Inadequate documentation, thus, is found to be a major source of litigation involving land. The government within a large gap of time carries out countrywide land surveys. But allegations about graft and other irregularities by the officials involved in such surveys are galore. There are cases where such unscrupulous officials in exchange for money create fake land owners and put the genuine owners in lots of troubles.
One participant speaking at the function where the study results were made public referred to the time -- 13 minutes -- taken in the United States to get a piece of land registered and recorded. Here one has to make lots of preparation and spend money either to sale or buy a piece of land. The registration does take a few hours but the buyer concerned is required to grease the palm of the officials concerned, lawyers and middlemen. But getting land recorded in the buyer's name would take months and lots of unofficial spending.
The process of registration and documentation of land remains one of the most graft-infested areas in Bangladesh. Studies have revealed it and the people concerned needing the services of land officials do know it better. And an end to their plight is not expected anytime soon.
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The curse of litigation over land disputes
Shamsul Huq Zahid | Published: August 13, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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