The State Acquisition and Tenancy Act came into being to eradicate the flaws among the provisions of land and to fill the gap created from previous lacking. It sets its objective principally to remove the landlord's interest from the land to collect rent and to acquire rent receiving interest by the Govt. alone. As per historical saying, recommendation of Floud commission constituted a bundle of objects. Apart from those, scrutinizing the entire Act, few aims/ objects might be drawn. Principal objectives are- To protect the bargadars against arbitrary eviction from their barga lands; To settle the dispute in case of derelict tea garden (Sec. 9A of the Act); To define consolidation/ estate/ hat bazar/ holding/ homestead/ khas land/ encumbrance/ usufructuary mortgage; To imply the persons as collectors/ commissioners/ raiyats/ landlords and so on; To ensure the system of one class tenant under Government so that they subsequently become free peasants; To provide a rational system to regulate enhancement and reduction of rents of tenants; To trace out the acquisition of rent receiving interest; To outline the law relating to tenancies to be held under the state; To have effect on the transference of intermediate interests in the land to public ownership of the state; To uplift the interest in the intermediate owners; The interest is also to vest in state for purpose of ameliorating the condition of actual cultivators of soil; To be used (the Act itself) similarly in case of arrear rents.
On the other hand, we can extract some Auxiliary objectives- To make free the peasants from their feudal bondage and make them active citizens. The purpose of land reforms is to help create democracy at the grass root level.
Under economic objectives of land reforms, the main thrust is to encourage agricultural progress as a vehicle for economic development, by giving the tenant ownership of his land, providing him with incentives to invest capital for improving land productivity. Land reform encourages more intensive farming and contributes to increased production. It has also been seen as a strategy for releasing the productive potential of the small and medium tenants. The government feels the necessity to maintain and updated some Rules, Regulation and Reformative decision on his part. Furthermore, said Act intends to clarify land use statistics and to conduct ceiling on urban land. To note, the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950 imposed for the first time in the history of tenure legislation in this country, a ceiling on the ownership of agricultural land. The said Act has another aim to fix land use policy and patterns, like- in Bangladesh, no agricultural land should be converted into non-agricultural land without the permission of the Government. The Government imposes much pressure to increase the food production. On the other hand agricultural land has got one tax values, and non-agricultural land has got different tax values. Besides, it aims to conduct cadastral survey. Cadastral survey in Bangladesh has two objectives: to provide documentary evidence of presumptive title to land for the owners and to provide Government with a tool to allow fair and equitable land development taxes to be collected.
SAT Act aims to settle Record of Rights (ROR). Mapping of holdings and preparation of up to-date record of rights is a pre-condition for efficient land management, ensuring security of tenants and land reforms. This work is now done under the provisions of the Survey Act, 1875 and the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950. It also fixes taxes regarding Non-agricultural land. The rates of land development taxes of non-agricultural land vary due to the importance and commercial value of the different places in the country.
Provisions empowering the aims of SAT Act-
l Sec. 44: Acquisition and vesting of the interest of proprietors, tenure-holders and other rent-receivers and of certain khas lands in the government and the consequences thereof. This view was drawn in a case of Jibendra Kishore vs. Province of Bangladesh (1957)
l Sec. 3 (1): It shall be lawful for the govt. that acquires all interests of the rent receiver. It will include the interest in subsoil and right to mineral.
l Sub-sec. 4 (F): All tenants shall become directly under the govt. and pay rent, land revenue directly to the govt. and anybody else.
In fact, these are the frontline provisions of the Act which affect substantive rights of the rent receivers. The Act contains as many as 152 sections which are mostly procedural.
It masters and devises the machinery to be used for tenants. Interesting to note, the term, under-raiyats has been upgraded to the status of raiyats. In addition to this, The SAT Act introduces many more effective systems even for topmost decrease of discomfort. Terms both from Hindu law and Muslim law are blended in SAT Act.
Finally, it is not an exaggeration to say- "The Act is a complete and self-contained enactment so far as the most important agrarian legislation is concerned".
Khairul Islam (Taj) is a Legal researcher, Law Mate Foundation
