Vested Property Act being scrapped in Bangladesh
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
September 10, 2009
Bangladeshi cabinet on Wednesday [September 9, 2009], during its 38th meeting has already decided to scrap the Vested Property Act.
It may be mentioned here that, for past two years, a number of human rights groups in the world took up the case of Vested Property Act seriously and pressed Bangladeshi government through various channels in scrapping the controversial Act and returning the properties to Hindu minority groups. The Vested Property Act was identified as a hated law and was termed by international community as a tool of human rights violation in Bangladesh.
It may be mentioned here that, the military controlled interim government actually passed the required law to return the property which were acquired under this controversial Act. Now the present government has only given a legal touch to this matter.
The Vested Property Act is a controversial law in Bangladesh that allowed the Government to confiscate property from individuals it deemed as an enemy of the state. Before the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, it was known as the Enemy Property Act and is still referred to as such in common parlance. The act is criticised as a tool for appropriating the lands of the minority population.
This law is the culmination of several successive discriminatory laws against non-Muslims passed while Bangladesh was part of Pakistan.
Chronologically, they are:
The East Bengal [Emergency] Requisition of Property Act (XIII of 1948)
The East Bengal Evacuees [Administration of Property] Act [VIII of 1949]
The East Bengal Evacuees [Restoration of Possession] Act [XXII of 1951]
The East Bengal Evacuees [Administration of Immovable Property] Act [XXIV of 1951]
The East Bengal Prevention of Transfer of Property and Removal of Documents and Records Act of 1952
The Pakistan [Administration of Evacuees Property] Act [XII of 1957]
The East Pakistan Disturbed Persons [Rehabilitation] Ordinance [No 1 of 1964]
The Defence of Pakistan Ordinance [No. XXIII of 6 September, 1965]
The Defence of Pakistan Rules of 1965
The Enemy Property [Custody and Registration] Order of 1965
The East Pakistan Enemy Property Lands and Buildings Administration and Disposal Order of 1966.
The Enemy Property [Continuance of Emergency Provision] Ordinance No. 1 of 1969
Bangladesh [Vesting of Property and Assets] President's [Order No. 29 of 1972].
The Enemy Property [Continuance of Emergency Provisions] [Repeal] Act [XLV of 1974]
The Vested and Non-Resident Property [Administration] Act [XLVI of 1974]
The vested and Non-Resident [Administration] [Repeal] Ordinance 1976 The Ordinance, [No. XCII of 1976]
The Ordinance No. XCIII of 1976.
On November 6, 2008, the High Court division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh delivered its Rule Nisi upon the Government on the Enemy Property [Continuance of Emergency Provision] [Repeal] Act 1974 and subsequently promulgated Arpita Sampatty Protapyan Ain 2001 and cicular, administrative orders.
The order calls upon the respondent to show cause as to why instructions issued in the contents of presidential order 29 of 1972, act 45 and 46 of 1974, ordinance No. 92, 93 of 1976, Arpita Sampatty Protapyan Ain 2001 and circulars issued by government that are in contradiction with the fundamental rights and the charter of declaration of Independence of Bangladesh, 10 April 1971, should not be declared to be ultra vires the constitution.The Rule Nisi also stated why the properties so far incorporated in the list as Enemy [Vested] property should not be returned to the title holder/successor/legal possession holders and or such other or further order or orders passed as to this Court may seem fit and proper.The Rule is made returnable within 4 weeks from 28 October 2008.
A seminal work was published in 1997 by Professor Abul Barkat of Dhaka University, 'Inquiry into Causes and Consequences of Deprivation of Hindu Minorities in Bangladesh through the Vested Property Act'. This demonstrated that 925,050 Hindu households [40% of Hindu families in Bangladesh] have been affected by the Enemy Property Act. This included 748,850 families dispossessed of agricultural land. The total amount of land lost by Hindu households as a result of this discriminatory act was estimated at 1.64 million acres [6,640 kmē], which is equivalent to 53 per cent of the total land owned by the Hindu community and 5.3 per cent of the total land area of Bangladesh.
The survey also showed that the beneficiaries of the land grab through the act cut across all party lines. The political affiliation of direct beneficiaries of appropriated property was:
Bangladesh Awami League 44.2%
Bangaldesh Nationalist Party [BNP] 31.7%
Jatiyo Party [led by former dictator Hussain Muhammed Ershad] 5.8%
Jamaat-e-Islami 4.8%
Others 13.5%
The greatest appropriation of Hindu property took place immediately after independence during the first Awami League government [1972-75] and during the first period of rule of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party [1976-1980]. Dr Barkat's work also showed that since 1948, 75% of the land of religious minorities in East Pakistan and subsequent Bangladesh had been confiscated through provisions of the Act.
Dr Barkat also emphasized that less than 0.4% of the population of Bangladesh has benefited from the Enemy Property Act, demonstrating that this law has been abused by those in power through corruption, with no demonstrated sanction by the population at large.
Repeal of the Act:
During Bangladesh's first three decades of independence many politicians made empty promised to repeal the act. The first government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman vowed to repeal any laws that contradicted the values of the newly liberated country; the Enemy Property Act contravened non-communal provisions of the new constitution. But instead of being repealed it was sustained under a new name in 1974.
Finally in the run up to the 2001 election Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League succeeded in a drive to repeal the act. The Vested Properties Return Act [2001] was implemented [in a session boycoted by the opposition BNP and Jamaat members] in an effort to make amends for the confiscated property. However little progress has been made in returning or compensating lost property under the Khaleda Zia government from 2001-2006.
A large number of extremely valuable and prime-located properties in Dhaka city were already grabbed by various political beneficiaries during past governments, under the Vested Property Act. It is well anticipated that, after the latest decision of Bangladeshi government to scrap the Act, when the actual process of returning the properties to the original Hindu owners will begin, there might be tremendous complications created by party cadres and activities belonging to both the ruling and opposition political parties in Bangladesh, as major segment of such properties are under gone inside tight grips of influential political leaders or touts.
It may be mentioned here that, for past two years, a number of human rights groups in the world took up the case of Vested Property Act seriously and pressed Bangladeshi government through various channels in scrapping the controversial Act and returning the properties to Hindu minority groups. The Vested Property Act was identified as a hated law and was termed by international community as a tool of human rights violation in Bangladesh.
It may be mentioned here that, the military controlled interim government actually passed the required law to return the property which were acquired under this controversial Act. Now the present government has only given a legal touch to this matter.
The Vested Property Act is a controversial law in Bangladesh that allowed the Government to confiscate property from individuals it deemed as an enemy of the state. Before the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, it was known as the Enemy Property Act and is still referred to as such in common parlance. The act is criticised as a tool for appropriating the lands of the minority population.
This law is the culmination of several successive discriminatory laws against non-Muslims passed while Bangladesh was part of Pakistan.
Chronologically, they are:
The East Bengal [Emergency] Requisition of Property Act (XIII of 1948)
The East Bengal Evacuees [Administration of Property] Act [VIII of 1949]
The East Bengal Evacuees [Restoration of Possession] Act [XXII of 1951]
The East Bengal Evacuees [Administration of Immovable Property] Act [XXIV of 1951]
The East Bengal Prevention of Transfer of Property and Removal of Documents and Records Act of 1952
The Pakistan [Administration of Evacuees Property] Act [XII of 1957]
The East Pakistan Disturbed Persons [Rehabilitation] Ordinance [No 1 of 1964]
The Defence of Pakistan Ordinance [No. XXIII of 6 September, 1965]
The Defence of Pakistan Rules of 1965
The Enemy Property [Custody and Registration] Order of 1965
The East Pakistan Enemy Property Lands and Buildings Administration and Disposal Order of 1966.
The Enemy Property [Continuance of Emergency Provision] Ordinance No. 1 of 1969
Bangladesh [Vesting of Property and Assets] President's [Order No. 29 of 1972].
The Enemy Property [Continuance of Emergency Provisions] [Repeal] Act [XLV of 1974]
The Vested and Non-Resident Property [Administration] Act [XLVI of 1974]
The vested and Non-Resident [Administration] [Repeal] Ordinance 1976 The Ordinance, [No. XCII of 1976]
The Ordinance No. XCIII of 1976.
On November 6, 2008, the High Court division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh delivered its Rule Nisi upon the Government on the Enemy Property [Continuance of Emergency Provision] [Repeal] Act 1974 and subsequently promulgated Arpita Sampatty Protapyan Ain 2001 and cicular, administrative orders.
The order calls upon the respondent to show cause as to why instructions issued in the contents of presidential order 29 of 1972, act 45 and 46 of 1974, ordinance No. 92, 93 of 1976, Arpita Sampatty Protapyan Ain 2001 and circulars issued by government that are in contradiction with the fundamental rights and the charter of declaration of Independence of Bangladesh, 10 April 1971, should not be declared to be ultra vires the constitution.The Rule Nisi also stated why the properties so far incorporated in the list as Enemy [Vested] property should not be returned to the title holder/successor/legal possession holders and or such other or further order or orders passed as to this Court may seem fit and proper.The Rule is made returnable within 4 weeks from 28 October 2008.
A seminal work was published in 1997 by Professor Abul Barkat of Dhaka University, 'Inquiry into Causes and Consequences of Deprivation of Hindu Minorities in Bangladesh through the Vested Property Act'. This demonstrated that 925,050 Hindu households [40% of Hindu families in Bangladesh] have been affected by the Enemy Property Act. This included 748,850 families dispossessed of agricultural land. The total amount of land lost by Hindu households as a result of this discriminatory act was estimated at 1.64 million acres [6,640 kmē], which is equivalent to 53 per cent of the total land owned by the Hindu community and 5.3 per cent of the total land area of Bangladesh.
The survey also showed that the beneficiaries of the land grab through the act cut across all party lines. The political affiliation of direct beneficiaries of appropriated property was:
Bangladesh Awami League 44.2%
Bangaldesh Nationalist Party [BNP] 31.7%
Jatiyo Party [led by former dictator Hussain Muhammed Ershad] 5.8%
Jamaat-e-Islami 4.8%
Others 13.5%
The greatest appropriation of Hindu property took place immediately after independence during the first Awami League government [1972-75] and during the first period of rule of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party [1976-1980]. Dr Barkat's work also showed that since 1948, 75% of the land of religious minorities in East Pakistan and subsequent Bangladesh had been confiscated through provisions of the Act.
Dr Barkat also emphasized that less than 0.4% of the population of Bangladesh has benefited from the Enemy Property Act, demonstrating that this law has been abused by those in power through corruption, with no demonstrated sanction by the population at large.
Repeal of the Act:
During Bangladesh's first three decades of independence many politicians made empty promised to repeal the act. The first government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman vowed to repeal any laws that contradicted the values of the newly liberated country; the Enemy Property Act contravened non-communal provisions of the new constitution. But instead of being repealed it was sustained under a new name in 1974.
Finally in the run up to the 2001 election Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League succeeded in a drive to repeal the act. The Vested Properties Return Act [2001] was implemented [in a session boycoted by the opposition BNP and Jamaat members] in an effort to make amends for the confiscated property. However little progress has been made in returning or compensating lost property under the Khaleda Zia government from 2001-2006.
A large number of extremely valuable and prime-located properties in Dhaka city were already grabbed by various political beneficiaries during past governments, under the Vested Property Act. It is well anticipated that, after the latest decision of Bangladeshi government to scrap the Act, when the actual process of returning the properties to the original Hindu owners will begin, there might be tremendous complications created by party cadres and activities belonging to both the ruling and opposition political parties in Bangladesh, as major segment of such properties are under gone inside tight grips of influential political leaders or touts.