NO ENFORCEMENT of the laws that bar individuals, families or bodies from holding more than 100 bighas, or roughly 33 acres, of land, including 60 bighas, or 19.83 acres, of agricultural land, keeps allowing many to acquire and own land beyond the limit. An analysis of the affidavits of candidates running in both the latest national elections and the recent two phases of upazila council elections, as Transparent International Bangladesh says in a report, shows that many lawmakers and candidates own more than 33 acres of land. An Anti-Corruption Commission investigation into allegations of amassing illegal wealth against a former inspector general of police, Benazir Ahmed, has found that he and his family own 621 bighas, or 205.28 acres, of land; 521 bighas or 172.23 acres of the land is recorded in the name of his wife. Transparency International Bangladesh has found that an Awami League leader elected member of the parliament in the 12th national elections owns 591.20 bighas, or 195.44 acres, of land. The organisation has also found that a candidate running for the position of an upazila council chair in the first-phase elections owns 224.66 bighas, or 74,27 acres, of land and another candidate running in the second-phase elections owns 165.16 bighas, or 54.6 acres, of land.
Transparency International Bangladesh has found six candidates running in the third-phase elections to have owned land more than the limit, with one owning 847 bighas, or 280 acres, of land. The State Acquisition and Tenancy Act 1950, as it was in adoption in 1972, allows 100 bighas, including agricultural land, as the highest aggregate quantity of land for all classes. The Bangladesh Land Holding (Limitation) Order 1972 also stipulates the same quantity of land for individuals, families or bodies to hold. The Land Reforms Ordinance 1984 stipulates a limit of 60 bighas of agricultural land and the Land Reforms Act 2023, which repealed the ordinance, kept the limit for agricultural land unchanged. The Land Reforms Act lays out that the government would acquire the land beyond the limit for compensation but in cases of agricultural land. Such a proposition does not only violate a number of laws, but also adds to inequality in wealth distribution. While legal experts say that the proposition has resulted from no or poor enforcement of the landowning laws, the minister for land seeks to say that it is difficult to look into whether individuals or families own land beyond the limit, noting that the government is working on a digital system to detect the owning of land beyond limit. Governance experts, however, demand that the government should immediately confiscate the land owned beyond the limit, especially by elected public representatives, because such people standing in breach of law sets a bad precedent.
Governance experts also say that the government should acquire the land owned by people beyond limit for distribution to the landless people. While this will save the laws from being violated and ensure transparency, this would also attend to the issue of uneven wealth distribution, even by a small measure. The government must, therefore, act on such violation of the laws and early.