They’ve hurled lotas and abuses at each other for public consumption, but on Wednesday, lawmakers from across the benches displayed exceptional camaraderie and joined forces for a ‘noble’ cause – thwarting a bill that would have empowered agricultural tenants.
The Punjab Assembly withdrew a bill titled “The Punjab Conferment of Proprietary Rights on Occupancy Tenants and Muqarraaridars Bill 2011” after a majority of members from opposition and treasury benches of the house opposed it.
Legislators from the treasury benches claimed the provincial government wanted to empower occupancy tenants, those who have been living on and cultivating a parcel of land for several years, but its efforts were thwarted by feudals and landlords in the house, regardless of their political affiliations.
The lawmakers also forced the speaker to hold the bill for an indefinite period.
Legal lacunas
There are a large number of tenants who have been cultivating a parcel of land for generations, but under Punjab Tenancy Act 1887, they cannot get ownership over their cultivated lands, said a Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) MPA while speaking to The Express Tribune.
The MPA said that one of the objections lawmakers had was over the introduction of a new legal term, occupancy tenant.
The aim of the bill could possibly have been to grant ownership to tenants who have been cultivating a parcel of land for decades, the minister said, but added that it needs to be clarified if leased land falls under this category.
An amendment was made to the Punjab Tenancy Act in 1952, which mandated that if a tenant paid five percent in rent, twenty times to the landlord, he automatically becomes the owner, the minister said.
However, after 1952, formation of occupancy tenants has been barred, he added.
Addressing tenancy act’s flaws
The bill aimed to address several flaws of the 1887 tenancy act, said MPA Khurram Ijaz Chattha who was part of the committee which formulated this proposed bill.
The government handed over parcels of land to tenants under different schemes, like the Abad Kari scheme, with promises transfer of ownership, but decades have passed and rights have not been transferred, Chattha added.
A serving bureaucrat, with vast experience in revenue affairs, said that occupancy tenants who don’t have any legal document for their lands come under this bill.
Land given on lease does not fall under tenants’ category since leased lands have written agreements, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2011.
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Well on principle, the bill is wrong. No matter how long you work on the land, it does not make you its owner. Giving proper dues to the guy working on the land however, that is another matter and reforms are clearly needed in that area.