Power to maintain and lease vested properties remains with DCs
HC justifies 3 sections of Vested Property Return Act
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The High Court on Thursday ruled that Sections 9, 13 and 14 of the Vested Property Return Act, 2001, which came into effect a decade ago, are not contradictory to the fundamental rights mentioned in the Constitution.
A larger bench of the HC comprising Justice Naima Haider, Justice Shahidul Karim and Justice SM Kuddus Zaman delivered the verdict after rejecting two petitions challenging the legality of Sections 9, 13, and 14 of the Vested Property Return Act, 2001.
Following the verdict, the government can prepare list of the vest properties, only the vested property related tribunals will dispose of the cases involving such properties and deputy commissioners will have the authority to maintain and give lease those properties.
When the Vested Property Return Act 2001 came into effect in 2012, the government on April 8 that year issued a gazette after scheduling the vested properties.
Shymal Kumar Singha Roy from Khulna and Md Moshiur Rahman Beg from Chattogram filed two separate writ petitions with the High Court claiming ownership of some scheduled vested properties. In the writ petitions, they also challenged the Sections 9, 13 and 14 of the Vested Property Return Act 2001.
According to the writ petitions, “The right to property is a fundamental right of the individual under Article 42 of the Constitution. So no officer or any authority of the state or government can deny it.
Sections 9, 13 and 14 of the Vested Property Return Act, 2001 undermined that fundamental right of the petitioners. So the three clauses should be scrapped.”
Upon primary hearing on the petitions the court issued a rule. In the rule the court questioned the legality of three Sections of the law and the gazette that included the petitioners' claimed properties as the scheduled vested properties.
After issuance of the rule the Chief Justice formed a larger bench to hold hearing on the issue. Upon hearing the rule, the High Court bench delivered its verdict on Thursday.
Lawyer Manzill Murshid who appeared in the court hearing representing the Ministry of Land said, “The High Court issued a status quo on the property claimed by the petitioners when it issued the rule. Now the High Court has lifted the status quo.
Addressed the two writ petitioners the court said, as their cases were pending before the vested property related Tribunals, their rights will not be affected even if the civil courts' cases are dismissed as per Section 13 of the Act.”
Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta who represented the state in the court hearing said, “The main objective of the vested property related tribunals is to return the property to the rightful owner of the property. As a result, the High Court has ruled that it is not in conflict with the Constitution in any way.”