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Towards Inclusive Governance: Promoting the Participation of Disadvantaged Groups in Asia-Pacificthe government) need to be limited andreplaced, as appropriate, by those of civiland criminal courts under the SupremeCourt of Bangladesh. This must take intoconsideration the particular features ofjustice dispensation in the traditionalinstitutions in the area. As the first step, theCHT Regulation (Amendment) Act of 2003should be brought into force, and theappropriate judicial officers and ancillaryadministrative personnel appointed;• In the CHT, build institutional linkages betweencentral, regional and local institutions withregard to dispute settlement processes andwith respect to development planning whichmay impact on access to justice issues.Making the CHT land Commission effectiveEnsuring that the CHT Land Commission’soperation incorporates amendments to the LandCommission Act as advised by the RegionalCouncil.Setting up a land commission for the plainsProviding a one-stop service for addressing all landdisputes and eliminating the protracted delays andmultiple levels which any litigant in a land case issubject to in the current system.Addressing land acquisition of Adivasi lands• Putting in place systems for identifying suchland and ensuring that it is protected fromcompulsory acquisition;• Imposing restrictions on the transfer of rurallands to individuals/organizations notassociated with local people or Adivasis orHill peoples;• Providing legal, strategic and organizationalsupport for ensuring preservation of landand forest rights of Adivasis;• For the concerned communities, preservingcertain areas (including water bodies) ascommon property for community forests,grazing lands, communal grasslands andjum cultivation or other agricultural cultivation;• Establishing an elected body for preservationand management of such common property(at the mauza level in the CHT);• In the CHT, cancelling all leases granted tonon-residents (in particular influentialpersons, administrative officials); establishinglocal committees to scrutinize such leases,and amount of land so leased; then developinglegal strategies to address these problems,with collective participation in the process.The DCs could be instructed to initiate suomoto processes to cancel such leases;• Following best practice from elsewhere, inapplying section 28 of the Forest Act withinthe CHT to ‘village forest communities/forest dwellers’ within Reserved Forestswhere tens of thousands of indigenouspeoples live. Similar processes could also beinitiated in the plains in greater Sylhet,greater Mymensingh, etc.;• Cancelling declarations of reserve forestmade under the Forest Act before theAccord, or otherwise under the process ofreservation, and placing these lands withinthe jurisdiction of the HDCs, or having thedisputes resolved by the Land Commission;40