A section of communal and corrupt officials with ulterior motives are blocking implementation of the Vested Properties Return Act 2001, despite court orders clearing doubts over the matter, said a national citizens' cell that looks into the implementation status of the act.

As many as 2 lakh appeals for recovery of the properties are still pending with the vested property return tribunals, said advocate Subrata Chowdhury at a press conference at Jatiya Press Club yesterday. Against this backdrop, the National Citizen Coordination Cell to Implement the Vested Properties Return Act drew attention of the law ministry and the land ministry to the HC directive.

The listing of any property as enemy property or vested property after March 23, 1974 is illegal and those involved in this would be responsible for the illegal act, said the High Court while disposing of a writ petition filed in 2011. The full verdict was released on the Supreme Court website on April 1 this year.

The government had enacted the act to return the properties listed as enemy properties to its original owners and their beneficiaries, and government officials are instructed to implement the court orders without delay, the HC said. No excuse for any delay would be acceptable.   

Some land administration officials have been including more and more properties of the minority communities in the list of enemy properties, in violation of the court's verdict and directives, according to a press release issued by the cell.

Hindus have lost as much as 26 lakh acres of land between 1965 and 2006 in the country, the press release said citing research by Prof Abul Barakat.

The government may form an exclusive tribunal in each district to deal with appeals filed under Section-10 of the Vested Properties Return Act, the court said, adding that more number of tribunals could be formed in districts with backlog of appeals.

The cell demanded effective actions from the ministries immediately to form such tribunals.

According to the 2001 act and its amendments in 2011, 2012 and 2013, judgements of the Appellate Tribunal is final in regard to the return of vested properties, and deputy commissioners are responsible for implementing the orders.

But some of them are not discharging their responsibilities. Some deputy commissioners even went a step further to send proposals to the solicitor's office to file writ petitions with the HC to challenge judgements of the Appellate Tribunal, the citizen cell said.

The law ministry in April declared such proposals were unlawful, it added.

The 2001 act was aimed at recovering properties that the minority communities lost from 1965 due to the enemy properties act and then after the independence of Bangladesh under the vested properties act. 

The properties that have seen schools, colleges established on them or those being used in public interests need not be returned, said Subrata. In these cases, compensations should be given, he added. “It is unfortunate that neither do we obey law, nor the court,” Subrata added.

“Our question [to the authority] is on what grounds the implementation has been barred,” said rights activist Sultana Kamal.

Nine organisations comprising the citizen cell, including Bangladesh Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Nijera Kori, Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad and Ain O Salish Kendra, organised the press conference.