TRW & Co · Land & Property
Land Possession Recovery Lawyer in Chittagong (Chattogram): Land Grabbing and Eviction
A land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong helps owners take back land that has been occupied, fenced or built on without right. Bangladesh law offers fast civil suits, restoration by an Executive Magistrate under the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023, and criminal prosecution. Acting within months of dispossession, with the right evidence, decides how quickly you recover the land.
Key pointTime is the decisive factor: a section 9 suit must be filed within six months of dispossession and restores possession without a full trial on title, so the first few weeks after a land grab often decide whether recovery is quick or slow.
At a glance
Six-month fast suit
Section 9 of the Specific Relief Act 1877 restores possession without deciding title if the suit is filed within six months of dispossession.
Magistrate restoration route
Section 8 of the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023 lets an Executive Magistrate restore possession, with applications to be disposed of within three months.
Occupation is a crime
Unlawful occupation of land is punishable by up to two years' imprisonment and a fine under the 2023 Act, and its offences are cognizable.
Title suits remain
Where the fast remedies are unavailable, a suit based on title under section 8 of the Specific Relief Act recovers possession after a full trial.
Do not use force
Retaking land by force invites criminal cases and counter-claims; lawful orders enforced with police support protect your position.
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When someone takes your land in Chattogram
A land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong acts for owners who have been pushed off their land, or who face someone fencing, building on or renting out property that is not theirs. In Chattogram this happens in many forms: a relative occupies an inherited plot while the rest of the family is abroad, a neighbour moves a boundary wall, a buyer is never given the land he paid for, a tenant refuses to leave, or an organised group fills and fences an empty plot on the edge of the city and then offers to "sell" it back.
The law gives several remedies, and they work on very different timetables. Some must be used within months of dispossession, some are criminal and handled by magistrates and the police, and some require a full civil trial on title. Choosing the right one, quickly, is often the difference between recovering the land within months and litigating for years.
This page explains the civil, criminal and administrative routes, including the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023, and how they are used in practice in Chattogram's courts and offices.
The legal framework
Civil law
- Specific Relief Act 1877: section 8 lets a person entitled to possession recover it in a suit based on title. Section 9 gives a faster remedy to a person dispossessed without consent and otherwise than in due course of law: the court restores possession without deciding title, the suit must be filed within six months of dispossession, it cannot be brought against the Government, and no appeal or review lies from the decision, although revision to the High Court Division remains available.
- Limitation Act 1908: sets the time limits, including the six months for a section 9 suit and longer periods for title-based suits for possession, which also underpin claims of adverse possession.
- Code of Civil Procedure 1908: governs the suit, temporary injunctions to preserve the position while it runs, and execution of a decree for possession.
Criminal and administrative law
- Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023 (Act 36 of 2023): makes unlawful occupation of land an offence punishable by up to two years' imprisonment and a fine (section 7), punishes land fraud and forgery more severely, and penalises a seller who takes full payment but does not hand over possession (section 9). Section 8 lets a person dispossessed without a lawful order apply to the Executive Magistrate for restoration of possession, and the application is to be disposed of within three months. Offences under the Act are cognizable, and rules under it were made in 2024.
- Code of Criminal Procedure 1898, section 145: lets an Executive Magistrate decide who was in actual possession where a land dispute threatens a breach of the peace, and restore a party forcibly dispossessed shortly before the proceedings. Until the 2023 Act's own procedure is fully in place, section 8 applications follow the section 145 procedure.
- Penal Code 1860: criminal trespass and related offences, still used where occupation is accompanied by force, threats or damage.
Where cases are heard in Chattogram
In Chattogram, civil suits are filed in the civil courts at the court complex, the Executive Magistrates work under the Deputy Commissioner as District Magistrate, and criminal complaints go to the police station with jurisdiction or to the magistrates' courts. The first reported case under the 2023 Act in Chattogram was filed in a Senior Judicial Magistrate court within weeks of the law passing.
Which civil court hears a suit depends on the value of the property and the relief sought, so a plot in Panchlaish and a strip of farmland in Rangunia may start in different courts. Police stations under the Chattogram Metropolitan Police deal with complaints inside the city, and the district police with those in the upazilas. A land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong files in the right court and the right police station from the outset, because a wrongly filed case can lose weeks that the owner cannot afford.
Choosing the right remedy
A land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong starts with two questions: when were you dispossessed, and how strong is your title? The answers point to the remedy.
| Remedy | Forum | Timing | What you must show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 9 suit, Specific Relief Act | Civil court | Within six months of dispossession | Prior possession and dispossession without consent; title is not decided |
| Section 8 suit for title and possession | Civil court | Within the longer limitation period for title-based claims | Title, and that the defendant is wrongly in possession |
| Restoration under section 8, Land Crime Act 2023 | Executive Magistrate | Application to be disposed of within three months | Possession and dispossession without a lawful order; barred if a civil possession suit is pending |
| Section 145 proceedings | Executive Magistrate | Where a dispute threatens the peace | Actual possession, or recent forcible dispossession |
| Criminal complaint for unlawful occupation, fraud or forgery | Police station or magistrate's court | As soon as possible | The elements of the offence under the 2023 Act or Penal Code |
These routes can be combined, but not carelessly. A civil suit for possession on the same matter bars an Executive Magistrate from acting under section 8 of the 2023 Act, although the civil court may itself refer the matter to the Executive Magistrate. A criminal case punishes the occupier but does not, by itself, decide title.
When the occupier claims the land by long possession
Occupiers sometimes argue that they have held the land openly and without interruption for so long that the owner's right to recover it has been lost. Under the Limitation Act, a title-based suit for possession must generally be brought within twelve years, and the period runs from when the occupier's possession became adverse to the owner. These claims are fact-heavy: permission, rent receipts, family arrangements and the owner's own acts of possession can all defeat them. If you suspect an occupier is building such a claim, act before the period runs, and keep evidence of every visit, payment and instruction you give about the land.
If you have been dispossessed recently, the clock matters more than anything else. The six-month window for a section 9 suit is short, and the faster remedies work best when evidence of your possession is fresh. Speak to a land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong in the first weeks, not after a year of family negotiation.
Step by step: recovering possession
- Record the situation immediately. Photograph and video the land, the occupation and any new structures, note dates and witnesses, and lodge a general diary at the police station.
- Collect title and possession evidence. Gather deeds, khatians, mutation, land tax receipts, utility bills, rent receipts from tenants and anything else that shows you held the land.
- Send a legal notice where useful. A formal notice can resolve family and boundary disputes and fixes the date the occupier was told to leave; see our legal notice practice.
- Choose and file the remedy. File the section 9 or title suit, the section 8 application to the Executive Magistrate, or a criminal complaint, depending on timing and title.
- Seek interim protection. Ask for a temporary injunction to stop further construction or transfer while the case runs; our injunction team handles urgent applications.
- Attend the inquiry or trial. Executive Magistrate proceedings include statements from both sides and an on-the-spot inquiry; civil suits involve pleadings, evidence and witnesses.
- Enforce the order. Execute the decree or restoration order with police support where needed, then secure the boundary and update the records. See our decree execution practice.
Documents and evidence
- Registered title deeds and the full chain of earlier deeds, plus heirship documents for inherited land.
- Survey khatians (CS, SA, RS, BS or city survey) from the DLRMS portal and the mutation record.
- Land development tax receipts, which are strong everyday evidence of possession.
- Evidence of physical possession: boundary walls, cultivation, tenants, utility connections, photographs over time.
- The general diary or FIR, legal notices and any reply from the occupier.
- Witness details: neighbours, local representatives, tenants, caretakers.
- For land bought but never handed over, the sale deed and proof of full payment.
Our article on what to do when someone occupies your land explains the evidence in plain language.
Risks and common mistakes
Waiting too long
Owners often spend months negotiating through relatives or local leaders before taking legal advice. By then the six-month window for a section 9 suit may have closed, the occupier may have built or sold, and evidence of your earlier possession is harder to prove. Negotiation is sensible, but protect your position in parallel: lodge a general diary, send a notice and diarise the limitation dates from the day you were dispossessed.
Using force to take the land back
Self-help is tempting, especially when the occupation is recent. It is also dangerous. Retaking land by force can lead to criminal cases against you, gives the occupier a section 145 or section 9 claim of their own, and can turn a strong case into a messy one. Use the Executive Magistrate, the police and the courts, and let the order be enforced lawfully.
Filing in the wrong forum, or in two at once
Each remedy has its own conditions. A section 8 application under the 2023 Act cannot proceed while a civil possession suit on the same matter is pending, and a criminal complaint will not on its own give you a decree for possession. Filing everywhere at once can waste time and invite objections. A land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong sequences the remedies so that each strengthens the next.
Weak records of your own
If your khatian names someone else, mutation was never done after inheritance, or land tax has not been paid for years, the occupier will exploit those gaps. Sometimes the first step is to fix your own records through mutation or khatian correction while the possession case runs.
Treating a co-sharer like a stranger
Where the occupier is a co-heir or co-owner, the law treats them as entitled to possession of the joint property until it is partitioned. The right remedy may then be a partition suit, with injunctions to stop construction or sale, rather than a straightforward possession case.
Relatives, tenants, buyers and developers
Relatives in occupation
Many Chattogram cases involve family: a brother who stayed in the family home, a cousin who manages land for owners abroad, or heirs who refuse to share. Family occupation often begins with permission, which matters legally because a person who entered with your consent was not "dispossessing" you on day one. The case usually turns on when the permission ended and what records show.
Tenants who will not leave
Residential and commercial tenants are protected by tenancy law and the terms of their lease, so a tenant cannot be removed by force. Recovery is through notice and a suit for eviction; see our tenancy practice.
Caretakers and managers who were allowed onto the land to look after it are in a similar position. Their right to stay ends when the owner withdraws permission, but they often refuse to leave and begin to treat the land as their own. A written termination of permission, served properly and backed by evidence of the original arrangement, is the foundation of any later case, and a land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong will prepare it with that case in mind.
Buyers never given possession
Where a seller takes full payment but does not hand over the land, section 9 of the 2023 Act now makes that a criminal offence, alongside the buyer's civil claims for possession and specific performance.
Developers and fraudulent deeds
Developers sometimes start work on land under an agreement that has expired, been cancelled or was signed by only some of the owners. Where occupation rests on a forged or fraudulent deed, the criminal provisions on land fraud and forgery apply, and a civil court that finds a deed fraudulent can direct steps to have it cancelled at the sub-registry. A land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong will usually pair a civil suit for declaration and cancellation of the deed with a criminal complaint, so that the forger faces consequences while the owner's title is restored.
Government land and agency claims
The 2023 Act also punishes unlawful occupation of government, semi-government, autonomous and public-use land, and the Deputy Commissioner and AC Land offices act to recover khas land. The opposite situation also arises: a government body or authority claims a private owner's land, fences it or starts work without acquiring it. Section 9 suits cannot be brought against the Government, so the owner's remedies are usually a title suit or, where the authority acts without lawful authority, a writ petition to the High Court Division; see our writ practice. If the land is being formally acquired, the issue becomes compensation, covered by our land acquisition practice.
The law now gives a dispossessed owner more than one door: the civil court, the Executive Magistrate and the criminal court. The skill lies in choosing which door to open first.
Owners living abroad
Probashis are especially exposed to land grabbing. Land left empty, or managed informally by relatives, is an easy target, and owners abroad often discover the problem late. A carefully drafted power of attorney, executed before a Bangladesh mission and registered in Bangladesh, lets a trusted person or lawyer file and run the case without the owner travelling for every hearing; see our power of attorney practice.
TRW & Co's Chattogram advocates work with our offices in London, Dubai, Singapore and Dhaka so that owners abroad can give instructions, sign documents and follow progress without delay. Our NRB property practice covers the related steps, and a land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong can attend court and the Executive Magistrate's inquiry on your behalf.
How a land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong at TRW & Co helps
TRW & Co's Chattogram office is at 2 No Gate on Bayazid Bostami Road, and our advocates appear in the Chattogram civil and criminal courts and before Executive Magistrates.
Rapid case assessment
We review title, records and the timeline of dispossession, then recommend the remedy or combination of remedies most likely to work. You get a clear plan within days.
Civil possession suits
We file section 9 and title-based suits, seek temporary injunctions to stop construction or sale, and run the evidence through trial and appeal or revision.
Executive Magistrate applications
We prepare section 8 applications under the 2023 Act and section 145 proceedings, attend the on-the-spot inquiry and press for disposal within the statutory period.
Criminal complaints
We draft complaints for unlawful occupation, fraud and forgery and follow them through the police and magistrates' courts. Where you are wrongly accused, our false case team defends you.
Record repair
We fix mutation, khatian and tax gaps that occupiers exploit, so that your title is as strong on paper as it is in fact.
Enforcement and aftercare
We execute decrees and orders with police support where needed, then advise on boundaries, caretakers and records to prevent a repeat.
Checklist for owners
- On what date were you dispossessed, and is the six-month window still open?
- Have you photographed the land and lodged a general diary?
- Are your deeds, khatian, mutation and land tax up to date and consistent?
- Is the occupier a stranger, a co-sharer, a tenant or a seller who never handed over?
- Is construction or sale imminent, so that an injunction is needed now?
- Which remedy comes first: civil suit, Executive Magistrate or criminal complaint?
- If you live abroad, who holds a valid power of attorney to act for you?
For help, contact the Chattogram office through our contact page, email info@trw.co or call +880 1779 127165. You can also browse all our practices, read about our wider land disputes practice or return to our Chattogram law firm overview.
Frequently asked questions
01Someone has occupied my land. What should I do first?
Record the situation with dated photographs and video, note witnesses, and lodge a general diary at the police station with jurisdiction. Then gather your deeds, khatian, mutation and land tax receipts and take legal advice quickly. If you were dispossessed recently, the six-month window for a section 9 suit and the Executive Magistrate route under the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023 are both open, and acting early keeps the strongest options available.
02What is a section 9 suit?
It is a summary civil remedy under the Specific Relief Act 1877 for a person dispossessed of immovable property without consent and otherwise than in due course of law. The court restores possession without deciding who owns the land. It must be filed within six months of dispossession and cannot be brought against the Government. No appeal or review lies from the decision, although revision to the High Court Division is available. The losing party can still sue separately on title.
03How does the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023 help?
It makes unlawful occupation, land fraud and forgery criminal offences, and penalises a seller who takes full payment but does not hand over possession. Section 8 also lets a person dispossessed without a lawful order apply to the Executive Magistrate for restoration, and the application is to be disposed of within three months after hearing both sides and inspecting the land. It cannot be used while a civil possession suit on the same matter is pending, though the civil court may refer the matter.
04Can I simply go back and retake my land?
It is unwise. Retaking land by force can expose you to criminal charges, gives the occupier a possession claim of their own and can undermine a strong case. Use the lawful routes: a civil suit with an injunction, an application to the Executive Magistrate, or a criminal complaint. Once you have an order, it can be enforced with police assistance.
05My brother has occupied our late father's land. Is that land grabbing?
Not necessarily in law. Co-heirs are each entitled to the joint property until it is partitioned, so a co-sharer in occupation is not a trespasser in the same way as a stranger. The usual remedy is a partition suit, with an injunction to stop construction or sale, sometimes combined with a claim for an account of rents. A land possession recovery lawyer in Chittagong will check whether the relative has excluded the others or is acting under a forged document, which changes the options.
06How long does it take to recover possession?
It varies with the remedy and the contest. The 2023 Act requires Executive Magistrate applications to be disposed of within three months, and section 9 suits are designed to be quicker than title suits because title is not tried. Full title suits, appeals and execution can take considerably longer. Strong documents, prompt action and interim injunctions are the best ways to shorten the process and stop the occupier strengthening his position.
07I live abroad. Can the case be run without me in Chattogram?
Yes, in most cases. You can appoint a trusted person by a power of attorney executed before a Bangladesh mission and registered in Bangladesh, and TRW & Co's advocates can file and conduct the case in Chattogram. You may need to give evidence at some stage, and we plan that around your travel. Our offices in London, Dubai and Singapore help with signing and attestation.
Sources and official materials
- Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023 — Unlawful occupation offences and magistrate restoration
- Specific Relief Act 1877 — Sections 8 and 9 recovery of possession
- Limitation Act 1908 — Time limits for possession suits
- Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 — Section 145 possession disputes
- Code of Civil Procedure 1908 — Suits, injunctions and execution
- DLRMS land records portal — Online khatians and land records
- Chattogram district judiciary — Chattogram civil and criminal courts
General information only, current as at 27 October 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create an advocate–client relationship. It reflects the law of Bangladesh unless stated otherwise, and the law, court practice and official fees change frequently. Check current official sources and take advice on the facts of your matter.
