Guwahati: Law Society, Assam on Friday raised demand for amendment to the Assam Land and Revenue Regulations Act (ALRRA), 1886 which was enacted by the then colonial British Government in the view of raging agitation for land rights to ‘indigenous’ landless people in the state of late leading to social tension.
The Law Society has particularly referred to the Chapter X of the Regulation (Protection of Backward Classes of Assam) which was added in the Act in question by Assam government in 1947 at the behest of Late Gopinath Bardoloi, the then Chief Minister of Assam.
The president and secretary general of Law Society, Hemanta Kumar Barman and Hamidur Rahman stated that the root cause of the prevailing burning problem in Assam is the problem related to rights over the land.
“The state is the absolute owner of the land. The land policy which was adopted by them British government, has not been reformed by all our successive government in Independent India,” they said.
The Chapter X in the regulation as mentioned above which was added to the Act through an amendment, was meant for protection of backward classes of Assam.
However, over the years it has been found that majority of these classes of persons are so backward socially and economically that they could not protect themselves adequately against the more advanced immigrant farmers.
The available sarkari land was also fast disappearing due to encroachments by the aggressive elements coming from outside the state.
This has resulted in unrest over land rights and the agitation by landless people sometimes tend to get violent.
The Law Society also demanded that the existing Land Policy of Assam should be reviewed and amended in the right spirit of the Chapter X of the existing Land Revenue and Regulations Act to grant land rights to the recognized socially and economically backward classes of the state.
The Society has decided to organize a state-level seminar on the issue later this month to raise awareness among the people.
