Raphael Warjri

A delegation of twenty tribal chiefs including government officials of the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh and representative of United Nations Development Programme led by Raja Devasish Roy, a prominent Chakma chieftain and a practicing Barrister at Law are on the Traditional knowledge Learning and Sharing  exchange programme with the tribal chiefs of the North East India. The programme lay emphasis on traditional justice system in Meghalaya and Nagaland, even as exploration is formulated with Tripra tribal chiefs also. The programme was organised by the Sustainable Inclusive Development in Chittagong Hill Tracts and the UNDP office at Dhaka. The delegation met Mr. L Blah, Chairman Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and Justice S Kharsyiemlieh of KHADC Court for deliberation on various legal matters pertaining to tribal rights over land and forests, customary laws, functions of traditional institutions and a wide range of issues on the provision of laws in India and Bangadesh with reference to similarities and differences that could be improvised for the welfare of the tribal populace on both countries.

The knowledge sharing exercise was delivered between Justice S Kharsyiemlieh and Raja Devasish Roy and participated by other Bangladesh tribal chiefs, lawyers and UNDP officials. Justice Kharsyiemlieh spoke about the jurisdiction of District Council Courts on tribal people with elaborate discourse on Civil Procedure Code, appeal and review and execution of judgement besides the customary laws on succession and other traditional judicial system. The Chakma Raja explained the judicial procedure on tribal areas in Bangladesh in relation to national acts and rules in Bangladesh and  presented the compilation of reports and articles on customary law and tribal justice system in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. The KHADC Chairman also handed over the Autonomous District Council Rules to the delegation for further references in the justice delivery system.