ABSTRACT
According to A. I. Chowdhury the availability of urban land for housing and other purposes was then in a critical situation in Bangladesh with the very high price for land in urban areas testimony to that fact. Land law in Bangladesh is based on the common law system of freehold and leasehold title. On the settlement of land disputes, the World Bank report on urban issues in Bangladesh has suggested that a specialised system of land courts should be set up to deal with land disputes. While a defence of master planning under the Town Improvement Act was mounted at the Seminar and the point was made that some plans have been developed with the support of UN agencies, there is general agreement amongst commentators that urban planning laws are ineffective in Bangladesh. Urban planning laws are pre-eminent examples of public land law and ones which have already been commented on in general terms when considering Bangladesh’s laws.
