‘Arable land ceiling fixed at 60 bighas’

Staff Reporter :
As per the Land Reforms Act, which passed by the Jatiya Sangshad (JS), no one can own more than 60 bighas of agricultural land.

Even if anyone gets more land through inheritance, he or she have to leave the extra land by keeping 60 bighas of agricultural land by choice.

Additional agricultural land can be acquired by the government with prescribed compensation.

Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and Land Secretary Md. Khalilur Rahman said this while replying to journalists queries during a press conference held at the secretariat on Wednesday.

The press conference was organized by the Land Ministry (LM) to clarify different issues regarding the Land Crimes Prevention and Remedies Act 2023 and other related issues raised in the National Parliament.

Journalists also asked about the Land Reforms Act 2023 passed by the National Parliament.

An official of the Land Ministry said that once most of the land was under the zamindars, but in 1950 new rules stipulated that no one can have more than 375 bigha of agricultural land.

After the independence of Bangladesh, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman reduced it to 100 bighas.

However, the military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad made it 60 bighas in 1984.

The new provision could not be implemented so far due to the lack of rules in light of the ordinance.

Now the government wants to implement it by making a new law.

The main point of the law is that no one can able to own more than 60 bigha of agricultural land.

When journalists gave an example of inherited land and wanted to know that if a person has 60 bighas of agricultural land, but then inherits another 60 bighas or more of agricultural land from his father then what will happen, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and Land Secretary Khalilur Rahman replied that the concerned person can own a maximum of 60 bighas of agricultural land as per his/her convenience from the inherited agricultural land or his own agricultural land.

Mentioning the law, Land Secretary Khalilur Rahman said that if the land owned through inheritance is more than 60 bighas, the owner of the land can keep 60 bighas of land according to his choice, but the remaining land may be disposed of by compensation in the manner prescribed by the Government Rules.

However, in eight cases including cooperative societies, there is an opportunity to keep more than 60 bigha of agricultural land, he added.

The land minister said the matter will be fixed in the rules.