পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (তৃতীয় খণ্ড).pdf/৫৬৯

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ তৃতীয় পত্র

Assessment & Collection of the

Land Revenue & other Taxes.

 (2) The second purpose of district administration is to assess and collect the Land revenue & other taxes. The main principle of revenue administration is that revenue by definition is intended to be collected & ought to be collected in full. Once this principle is allowed to slip & slide, there is no end to it. There are particular cases when it cannot or should not be collected, such as fire, flood or drought. The unparallel devastation caused by the present war must be taken into account. In such cases, the procedure is to give full relief on outstanding amounts of revenue at once, & to come to the aid of villagers with money and materials to relieve their immediate distress & to enable them to get on with the next crop. Another principal is fair assessment. Whether it is land revenue, irrigation dues, agricultural income tax or other taxes & duties which are levied under law, an essential preliminary to collection is that assessment must be fair and should be seen to be fair by the asses sees. There is also the principle of certainty. People should know the basis of assessment, the amount assessed & the place & time when the revenues due are to be paid or collected.

Land Revenue Exemption

 The Awami League is committed to the following principle in regard to land revenue: “The burden of land revenue bears heavily upon our peasant population. As a measure of immediate relief, all holdings up to 25 bighas (8i acres) throughout Pakistan now it will be throughout Bangladesh) shall be exempt from the payment of land revenue & arrears in respect of such, plots shall be written off. The ultimate aim is the total abolition of the present system of land revenue. The Land records system shall be simplified & improve".

Administration of the Land

 (3) The third purpose of district administration is to administer the land.

 The system of landlordism or the zamindari system was abolished in Bangladesh in 1951 under the East Bengal Estate Acquisition & Tenancy Act of 1951. All rentreceiving interests in Land were acquired with some exception. The zaminders & other rent- receiving interests were compensated & the total amount of compensation was about Rs. 36.34 crores. Out of the total amount of Rs. 36.34 crores assessed as final compensation payable to ex-rent-receivers & others for their properties acquired under the Act, total amount paid up to May 31, 1969, was Rs. 22,80,90,796 in cash & Rs. 82,04,600 in bonds. Cash payment of compensation, which was made only to Pakistani nationals, was almost completed in the year 1968-69 except in the district of Sylhet when the payment as expected to be completed in 1969-70.

 Land policy (in regard to Land) as enunciated in the Awami League manifesto includes: (a) reorientation of the land system to serve the best interests of the actual tillers of Land; (b) setting a ceiling upon land-holdings & redistribution of land which exceeds such ceiling to landless cultivators. This ceiling shall be estimated having regard to the local conditions or needs of the people; & (c) settlement of government has lands with landless cultivators.