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The High Court has declared valid the Declaration of the Jaintapur and Gowainghat Forest Gazette in Sylhet. According to the forestry official in question, according to this bulletin, the amount of reserved forest land in the two upazilas is 6,499 acres. The bulletin was published on August 20, 1975.
On Monday, the High Court dismissed two separate cases (rule disclaimers) filed by Mohaj (refugees) seeking the validity of the bulletin and the acquisition of land. A High Court bench composed of Judge Jubayer Rahman Chowdhury and Judge Kazi Jinat Haque approved the order.
Sylhet Divisional Forestry Officer, SM Sajjad Hossain, told Prothom Alo that the government declared about 25,000 acres of land in the Sylhet region as reserved forest area on August 20, 1975 through a separate gazette. A separate order was filed challenging the validity of a related bulletin (369). According to this bulletin, the Jaintapur and Gowainghat upazilas protected forest area is 6,499 acres. Most of this place is occupied by the forest department. The remainder is in the possession of others, including the petitioner.
According to the information received, some people, including Abdul Mottalib from Jaintapur in 2012 and some people, including Rafiqul Islam from Gowainghat in 2014, filed separate writ petitions against the validity of the gazette (369). The petitioners claim that the Ministry of Disasters and Relief acquired the land in 1951 to rehabilitate refugees from Assam and Tripura. In the first brief, 26 acres were claimed and in the second, 3,472 acres of land. The National Court ruled on April 18, 2012 regarding the first order and on April 26, 2014 regarding the second order.
