KATHMANDU, June 11: The government has pledged to provide land to squatters and landless people within 600 days. The commitment was made through the endorsement of the Land-Related (Twenty-First Amendment) Regulations.
The amended regulations have also been published on the website of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration.
Under the regulations, a Land Problem Settlement will operate at the central level, while district-level committees will be formed in each district. In line with this provision, both the central commission and district committees have already been established.
The amended regulations stipulate that the tenure of a district committee will be 500 days from the date of its formation. If the assigned tasks cannot be completed within that period, the government may extend the committee's term by up to 100 additional days.
“The tenure of a district committee shall be 500 days in districts where more than 5,000 applications have been filed, 200 days in districts where applications exceed 1,000 but do not surpass 5,000, and 150 days in districts with up to 1,000 applications,” the regulations state.
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“The Government of Nepal shall dissolve the commission or the concerned district committee once the process of providing land to landless Dalits and landless squatters and managing unplanned settlements has been completed.”
The regulations further state that, after distributing land and dissolving the committees, all decisions, records and related documents generated during their operations must be handed over to the ministry.
According to the regulations, district committees must transfer decisions related to land distribution for landless Dalits and squatters, as well as the management of unplanned settlements, along with certified land ownership registration records and other documents, to the concerned land administration office. Certified maps, field books and related records must be handed over to the concerned survey office.
The regulations also state that district committees shall carry out or facilitate land surveys for landless Dalits, landless squatters and residents of unplanned settlements if it is verified that they have been residing on the land since before February 11, 2010, in accordance with prevailing land survey laws.
Except for land restricted by law, the Land Problem Settlement may allocate various categories of government-owned or unclaimed land to squatters and landless people. These include leased government land as per official records; public, fallow and unregistered land not claimed by individuals; as well as land classified as Ailani, Parti, Ankada, Hale, Pate, Kodale, Birauta, Kipat, and Ukhada. The provision also covers land recorded as forest areas but already converted into settlements, as well as land within government-declared industrial zones where people are currently residing.
As per the regulations, district committees will be chaired by the Chief District Officer (CDO). Other members will include a chief administrative officer of a local level designated by the CDO, an official from the District Coordination Committee, the heads of the district land administration office and the division forest office, and an officer from the District Administration Office.
The head of the district survey office will serve as the member-secretary of the committee. The regulations state that the committee secretariat will be located either at the district survey office headquarters or at another location designated by the committee chair.
Survey officials express dissatisfaction
Employees from the Survey Group under the ministry have expressed dissatisfaction with one provision of the regulations and have drawn the attention of senior ministry officials to the issue.
The regulations grant the head of the district land administration office (formerly the Land Revenue Office) the authority to distribute land ownership certificates to squatters and residents of unplanned settlements.
However, the technical work required to prepare the certificates has been assigned to the head of the district survey office in their capacity as member-secretary of the committee.
The regulations state: “Land ownership certificates prepared based on cadastral maps and records for landless Dalits and landless squatters identified and verified by the committee, as well as for the management of unplanned settlements, shall be distributed by the head of the concerned land administration office in the presence of the Chief District Officer or an authorized representative designated by him.”
A senior Survey Group official criticized the arrangement, saying: “Survey officials are required to carry out the technical work, but administrative officials are given the responsibility of distributing the land ownership certificates, receiving the credit and appearing in photographs. This is a highly discriminatory provision and must be amended.”
The official warned that if the provision is not revised, survey officials may become discouraged from carrying out the work.
