The Cabinet on Monday approved in principle the draft of the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act, 2023 to curb land-related forgeries and offences.
The approval came from the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office.
“The land-related offences were defined and punitive provisions for these were kept in it so that the citizens can uninterruptedly enjoy the rights including possession on their own lands,” said Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain at a press briefing in Bangladesh Secretariat.
Raising the salient features of the proposed law, he said the land-related forgeries were specified and steps were taken to prevent, curb the crimes related to public and private lands as well as to ensure remedy to these offences.
“A scope was kept in it (the proposed law) for the disposal of land-related disputes through arbitration alongside the court,” said the Cabinet Secretary.
He said the maximum punishment for land forgery would be seven-year imprisonment, while the minimum is two-year jail.
Besides, the Cabinet also gave the final approval to the draft of Sand Quarry (Balumahal) and Soil Management (Amendment) Act, 2023 to bring some changes to the existing act of 2010 with a view to impose new restrictions in defining sand quarries and extraction of sand and soil.
Raising the changes, Mahbub Hossain said, “Sand or soil can’t be extracted from any cropland or the places where such extraction will create the threat for destroying the navigability of BIWTA routes.”
He said now only the hydrographic survey of BIWTA is considered in defining sand quarries. But if any, the survey of the Water Development Board will have to be considered in this regard as per the draft law, he added.
If there is a possibility of destroying cropland or its topsoil, sand and soil can’t be extracted, said the top bureaucrat.
Instruments of extracting sand and soil can be seized lawfully, he said adding the leaseholder will have to bear the compensation, if any road or establishment is damaged due to sand transport.
The secretary said topsoil can’t be damaged also in private lands.
The Cabinet also gave the final approval to the drafts of Laxmipur Science and Technology University Act, 2023 and Bangladesh Homeopathic Treatment Education Act, 2023.
Moreover, the Cabinet cleared the draft of Agriculture and Food-processing Industry Development Policy 2023, putting importance to the thriving agro-processing and food-processing industry.
In this context, the Prime Minister directed the authorities concerned to give more focus on the OIC countries while exploring new markets for the agro-processing and food-processing goods of Bangladesh.
The meeting approved the National Library Policy 2023 with a new provision to allow the use of IT in libraries.
The Cabinet cleared the drafts of an agreement to be signed between Bangladesh and Hong Kong for avoiding double taxation on income and preventing tax evasion; an agreement between the government of Bangladesh and the government of Canada on air transport; and the draft of BIMSTEC Charter.
It also approved the ratifications of the Security Cooperation Agreement between the government of Saudi Arabia and the government of Bangladesh; and Agreement on the Movement of Traffic-in-Transit and Protocol to the Agreement on the Movement of Traffic-in-Transit between Bangladesh and Bhutan.
