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Decentralization/Federalism: Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord (CHT)

Implementations

Decentralization/Federalism – 1998

The CHT Accord devolved numerous powers from the Government of Bangladesh to the CHT Tribal Councils. Implementation was initiated in 1998 with the passage of the amended HDC Acts by the Bangladeshi parliament, which, in essence, ratified the legislative changes called for in the CHT Accord. Under the amended 1998 legislation, the functions of the Councils included: law, police, primary and secondary education, health, agriculture, game and fisheries, cooperatives, trade, commerce, social welfare, cultural protection, roads and highways, waterways, public parks, development, justice, land and land management, conservation, tourism, licensing, statistics, and banking.

Most important among the legislative changes was the creation of a Regional Council to stand above the three district councils. Passed by the Bangladeshi parliament and approved by the president on May 24, Act 12 — the “Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council Act of 1998” — established the new Regional Council. Sections 2 through 14 of part C of the Accord put forth various administrative rules on the composition, selection, and duties of the Regional Council. The Accord stipulated in section C (2) that the chairman of the Regional Council was to be elected from the elected members of the 3 lower councils, have the status of a state minister, and must be a Jumma. The scope of powers that the 1997 Accord granted to the CHT councils, if fully implemented and enforced, would yield the highest level of autonomy possible, short of independence. While not every transferred power or legislative change could be discussed in detail, a few important changes stipulated by the CHT Accord and passed in 1998 were discussed.

One noteworthy reform brought about by the 1998 legislation was the repeal or deletion of section 51 from the original Rangamati Hill District Council Act of 1989, which originally read as follows:

“51. Control Over the activities of the Council: (1) If Government is satisfied that anything done or intended to be done by on behalf of the Council not in conformity with law or is inconsistent with or contrary to public interest, the Government may, by order: (a) quash the proceeding; (b) suspend the execution of any resolutions passed or order given by the Council; (c) prohibit execution of anything proposed to be done; (d) require the Council to take such action as may be specified. (2) When order under sub-section (1) is made the Council may, within thirty days of the receipt of the order, represent it to the Government. (3) The Government shall within thirty days of the receipt of the representation either confirm or modify or set aside the order. (4) If any reason the order is not confirmed or modified within the aforesaid period it shall be deemed to have been set aside.”

Given the original language of section 51 (namely, that the government may quash or suspend any law or activity that comes out of the Tribal Councils), the removal of this entire section served to substantially remove government oversight of the Council. Another important change involved section 27 of the Accord, which amended section 65 of the original Rangamati HDC Act of 1989. The original section 65 stated the following:

“65. Special regulation regarding land Development tax. Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the Government may, by a notification in the official gazette, entrust the responsibility of collecting land development tax and may, by a similar notification, credit the whole or a portion of such tax, realized in the district, to the Council fund as grant.”

This section was amended based on the 1997 Accord and now reads as follows:

“65. Collection of land development tax. Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, responsibility of collecting land development tax from taxable under the jurisdiction of Rangamati Hill District Council shall be vested with the Council and the said collected tax shall be credited to the Council’s fund.”

By comparing these two sections, it is evident that the new law removed government involvement in collecting land taxes and transferred that power over to the Council. In the original act, the Government would have collected certain taxes in the CHT and granted that money to the Council. In the revised section, the Council assumed the power of direct taxation.

Section 30 of the Accord called for two changes to be made to section 69 of the Rangamati HDC Act of 1989, which dealt with the power of the Council to make regulations and laws. The original text read as follows:

“69. Power to make regulations. (1) For carrying out the purposes of this Act, the Council may, with the prior approval of the Government, make regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act or any rule.”

This section was amended based on the 1997 Accord and now reads as:

“69. Power to make regulations.- (1) For carrying out the purposes of this Act, the Council may make regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act or any rule. Provided that if the Government does not agree with any part of the Regulations made, it shall be competent to give advice or directive to the Council towards amendments of the said regulations.”

In accordance with the 1997 accord, the words “with the prior approval of the Government” were removed in the amended legislation, giving the Council the unfettered power to make regulations for the CHT. The 1997 Accord also added a mechanism of recourse for the Government: the Government could “give advice” to the Council if it wished. The Accord also added new Council functions. Sections 34 and 35 of the accord sought to add to the list of functions and responsibilities of the Hill District Councils. All these changes were incorporated into the new legislation passed in 1998. In all, 12 additional areas of responsibility and 12 additional sources of tax revenue were transferred to the Councils.

Decentralization/Federalism – 1999

In February of 1999, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appointed Jyotindra Bodhipriyo Larma (Shantu Larma), the former JSS rebel leader from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, to a position of minister to head the new Regional Council.¹ In May 1999, the 22-member interim CHT Regional Council was formally established in the southeastern hill district of Rangamati. However, all the members were appointed by the Government of Bangladesh rather than elected since no acceptable voter registration list was available due to the lack of progress on citizenship reform.²

Clauses 33 and 34 of the CHT Accord added to the list of powers or functions that were transferred to the Council. These changes were made in the amended legislation of 1989. The government functions listed under the revised “Functions of the Council” that were to be devolved to the CHT Council contained over 100 specific policies falling under 33 general policy areas.³

“Bangladesh’s former rebel tribal leader made minister,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, February 18, 1999.
“Interim Chittagong hill tracts council installed,” Xinhua News Agency, May 27, 1999.
“Amended Rangamati Hill District Council Act of 1989 (Act 19 of 1998),” accessed October 3, 2012.