Supreme Court judge Justice Anil R. Dave has said there was a need for simplifying land laws stating that the rural poor and tribal communities would lose everything if they were deprived of rights to the land.
Speaking after inaugurating a conference on ‘Land Problems of the Poor and Tribal: Need for Support Mechanisms’ at NALSAR University here on Saturday, Justice Dave pointed out that one-third of the disputes were due to land-related issues. He suggested the paralegal practitioners to help the rural poor in getting back their land rights.
Justice Dave felt that the land laws were not being implemented properly as they were complex in nature and said there was an urgent need to simplify the existing land legislations for the sake of the rural poor.
Chief Justice of Hyderabad High Court Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta, who is also the Chancellor of NALSAR University, said paralegal system had been successful to some extent in solving land disputes in rural areas. Underlining the importance of mobile alternate dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism in settling the land disputes, he said disputes could be settled on the spot at mobile ADRs through conciliatory efforts.
Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR University Faizan Mustafa explained that over 2 per cent rural land and 28 per cent peri-urban land was in litigation.
He noted that 12 per cent murders were taking place due to land disputes, which were also causing 1.3 per cent GDP loss.
Prof. Faizan analysed that the poor were unable to get their land problems resolved due to lack of legal awareness and support.
Justice Dave asks paralegal practitioners to help the rural poor in getting back their land rights
