Special Court under Assam Land Grabbing Act, is a 'headless & homeless' entity

GUWAHATI: The Assam Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2010 has been lying almost on paper only for about a decade. The apparent reason is the lack of political will to implement it. Under the Act, the State should have a 'Special Court' for the victims of land grabbing to knock at. However, even after 10 years of the Act becoming a reality, the State does not have any such Court.

The Bill was cleared in the Assam Legislative Assembly in 2010 during the Congress regime, and the President of India gave his assent to it on October 28, 2011. Subsequently, the Legislative Department of the State government issued the gazette notification to this regard on November 18, 2011.

The purpose of this Act is to ensure justice to the victims of land grabbing across the State. The Act has provisions that any victim of land grabbing can move the District Session Court with a complaint. Above the Session Court, the Act also has the provision of a State-level Appellate Court called the 'Special Court'. If a victim of land grabbing is not satisfied with the verdict delivered by the District Session Court, he/she can move the Special Court seeking review of the judgment.

Even though the previous Congress government in the State passed the Bill relating to the Act, it did precious little for implementation of this Act. The present dispensation at Dispur has not also done enough to implement the Act during the past four years for the benefit of such victims of land grabbing.

According to the provisions of the Act, the Special Court should have a Chairman and two members. However, the Court has just two members who were also appointed just before the Lockdown 1.0. The Court has no Chairman, nor does it have any office accommodation. With no Chairman and office accommodation, the Special Court is literally a 'headless and homeless' entity.

When asked on the office accommodation, the authorities in the Revenue and Disaster Management department said, "The Kamrup (Metro) Deputy Commissioner has been asked to select a site for the purpose."

Despite the presence of an Act the victims of land grabbing in the State are an insecure lot insofar as their legal support is concerned. The responsibility of implementing the Act lies with the State Revenue and Disaster Management department.

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