Case study of dinajpur district

Twenty years of

legal struggle to

obtain ownership

of public ‘khas’

land In 1994, the landless villagers of Rajarampur in Dinajpur

district, Bangladesh, applied for access to public ‘khas’

land (government owned land available for allocation

according to government priorities) that had been lying

fallow for years. In 1995 they occupied 115 acres of this

fallow land. The occupation was contested by local elites,

who filed false claims of ownership. After 20 years of legal

struggle and resistance against the local elites, the

villagers obtained in 2012 confirmation from the court

that the occupied land was public ‘khas’ land and received

formal ownership titles for 52.44 acres.