President Emomali Rahmon has signed a decree on amendments made to the RT Constitutional Law “On the Local Governments.” The amendments provide for sacking local officials for illegal allotment of lands and organization of luxury weddings.
Amendments have been made to Article 22, which regards grounds for dismissal of heads of provinces, cities and districts.
Now they can be dismissed in case of non-observance of the laws on regulation of traditions and rituals, illegal allotment of lands and combating corruption.
According to data from the Central Committee for Land Management and Geodesy, 3,476 cases of violence of the country’s land legislation have been reported in the country over the first quarter of this year. 3,108 officials and managers were implicated in wrongdoing, and disciplinary and administrative action was imposed upon them and they were fined a total of 1,559,551 somonis.
The decree was endorsed by the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) on April 20 and seconded by the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament) on May 30.
In According with Tajikistan’s legislation, only the president has the right to sack heads of local governments.
Recall, Tajik chief prosecutor Yusuf Rahmon told reporters in Dushanbe on February 2021 that 296 officials were persecuted in 2020 for illegal allotment of lands.
“In 2020, about 9,000 hectares of lands that had been illegally allotted to citizens were returned to the state,” Tajik chief prosecutor added.
In Tajikistan, laws ban the private sale of land. Agricultural land can only be leased from the state. People can also receive a plot of land — free of charge — from their local government to build a home.
Only people who don't have their own home are eligible for a land parcel in the district where they are registered as a permanent resident.
Applications for the parcels of land are made to the district governor and the governor either approves the request, sends it to local authorities in each area for a final decision, or rejects the request if the applicant is deemed ineligible.
The application must be accompanied by a lot of documentation, including a letter from the local authorities in the applicant's home village or town to verify the applicant's account of their personal circumstances and their genuine need for land.
