Govt forms yet another land commission amid squatters’ crisis

KATHMANDU, Oct 6: The government has announced the formation of a new land commission with the aim of resolving the squatters’ problem. The decision to form the commission has already been published in the Nepal Gazette on October 1 but the government is yet to appoint members of the commission. According to sources at the Ministry of Land Management, the appointment of officials including the chairman of the commission will be finalized on the basis of an understanding among the political parties.

Ganesh Bhatt, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Land Management, said that the government will appoint all officials including the chairman of the commission by mid-October. According to him, the Land Commission to be formed now will be the 23rd such commission. The commissions that have been formed so far have not been able to solve the squatters’ problem. The mandate of the new commission will also be to solve the problems of squatters and unorganized residents.

After the formation of each new government, it has become customary to dissolve the old commission and form a new one, with the name of the commission changed each time. The upcoming commission will be called the ‘Land Problem Resolving Commission.’ With the concerned parties withdrawing their case from the court regarding the dissolution of the land commission led by Keshav Niraula, the government is now cleared to form a new one.

According to ministry sources, three members, including the chairman, will be appointed to the new commission under the UML quota. The vice chairman and three additional members will be selected from the Nepali Congress quota. Sources suggest that the members from the previous commission who were from the Nepali Congress are likely to be reappointed.

The government has decided to reduce the salaries of the officials, including the chairman, of the new commission but their official status has not been specified. Previously, the chairman's status was equivalent to that of a state minister, while the members held the rank of secretary.

The National Land Commission, formed on September 10, 2021, under the chairmanship of Keshav Niraula, was dissolved on March 21, 2024, by the government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, following a change in the coalition government. The process of establishing a new commission began soon after the formation of a new government led by KP Sharma Oli.

However, on April 5, 2024, 17 individuals, including two central members of the previous commission, Govardhan Kohli and Tek Bahadur Shah, filed a case in the Supreme Court challenging the government's decision. In response, the Supreme Court issued a temporary order on April 7, 2024, halting the formation of a new Land Commission and maintaining the status of the Niraula-led commission. Consequently, the process of forming a new commission was put on hold. Once the members who had filed the case withdrew it, the cabinet approved the formation of a new commission.

In the previous commission, Niraula, who was close to the Nepali Congress, served as the chairman, while Nahindra Khadka, affiliated with the Maoist Center, was the vice-chairman. Other members included Basudev Humagain from the Maoist Center, Sarita Maharjan, Tek Bahadur Shah from the Nepali Congress, Govardhan Kohli, Raghu Yadav from Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), and Dataram Khanal from the CPN (Unified Socialist) Party, with a joint secretary of the Ministry of Land Management also served as a member. The commission had established 77 district committees. With the creation of the new commission, new district committees will be formed once again. The previous Niraula-led commission reportedly received 1.35 million applications and provided ration support to 5,353 families.

Pile of commissions

Since 2009, various commissions and committees have been established to address the issues faced by slum dwellers and unorganized settlements. The Niraula-led commission was responsible for identifying squatters’ residents and distributing land ownership certificates.

According to the Ministry of Land Management, commissions and committees formed at different times for the benefit of squatter residents have provided 47,000 bighas of government and public land to 150,000 squatter families.

The first land survey commission for squatters was established in 2009, headed by Naradmuni Thulung. Since then, although the objective has remained the same, new commissions and committees have been created under different names. With each change in government leadership, the old commission or committee is dissolved, and a new one is formed.

Till date, a total of 14 commissions, three high-level land reform commissions, and five land registration and management committees have been created to tackle the issues of landless squatters and slum dwellers. Despite the government's ongoing efforts since 1953 to systematically provide land to the landless squatters, the problems persist.