Your Advocate
This week your Advocate is Barrister Tasnuva Shelley, Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Ms. Shelley is a Senior Associate of a renowned law firm named Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed & Associates. The partners and associates of the firm are highly experienced in litigation and have a sizeable legal practice having expertise in various branches of law mainly in commercial law, corporate law and in conducting litigations before courts of different hierarchies.
Query
My deceased father bought a few flats 10 years back but two of them are adversely possessed by two men for which there is a pending civil suits. One of the possessors have been harassing me by lodging false cases against me every now and then plus he threatens the guards I have employed every other day and a few days back he even slapped the guards, I sought help from the nearest police station but could not get enough assistance to stop him from disturbing my peace. Please advice me as to what possible steps I can take.
Noor e Huda
Mirpur
Response
Thank you for your query. The definition of “Adverse Possession” is the process by which a person who is not the legal owner of land (flat in your case) can become its owner after having occupied it for a specified period of time. In Bangladesh, as per the Limitation Act, 1908 that period is 12 years but it appears from your query that the flat in question was purchased 10 years ago therefore, it is unlikely for the nature of civil suits pending as mentioned are with regard to adverse possession. Generally, any person who is entitled to any legal character, or to any right as to any property(such as land, flat etc), may institute a suit against any person denying such character or right and the Court may in its discretion make therein a declaration that he is so entitled. I am unable to comment any further as the nature of the civil suits have not been disclosed on the presumption that you are contesting the same upon appointing a learned lawyer(s) but inform him about the situation with your guard and the response from the police station which will enable him to prepare his submission before the civil court and eventually benefit your case .
However, to establish any legal right it is assumed that you have all the documents of the said flats in your name as the successor-in-interest and have complied with the cumbersome and expensive registration requirements. In addition, the present ownership document, the mutation documents and the land development tax (khazna) are all up to date.
The current problems you are facing is inevitable in a country where the wealthy and influential people have always encroached on others' lands with false documents and obtained court decrees to confirm their ownership, often with help of officials in land-administration and management departments. Among other examples, hundreds of housing companies in urban areas have started to demarcate their project area using pillars and signboard before receiving titles. They use local musclemen with guns and occupy them with assistance from the local administrations, including the police. Most of the time, land owners feel obliged to sell their productive resources to the companies at a price inferior to market value. Civil servants within the government support these companies and receive some plot of land in exchange.
Therefore, the most practical advice is that you buckle up and get ready to tackle the administrative dispute resolution system and the civil court system, which may take 15–20 years to resolve, provided you can afford the time and money to enforce your rights.
For detailed query contact: tasnuva.shelley@gmail.com
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