After the government dissolved the Land Problem Settlement Commission, hundreds of landless Dalits, squatters and settlers of unmanaged settlements in Dadeldhura have been left disheartened. They say their long-awaited dream of securing ownership certificates for the land they have lived on for generations has been shattered once again.

“The commission had finally given us hope,” said Tek Bahadur Oli of ward 4 of Alital Rural Municipality. “I was expecting to receive my land ownership paper this time, but now I must continue living without any legal claim over my own home. The new government must think about us.”

While working for eight months in Dadeldhura, the commission had collected around 14,000 applications from landless Dalits and squatters in the district. Among them, 239 were landless Dalits, 189 from landless squatters, 8,437 from unmanaged settlers and 289 applications were under verification. Several beneficiaries had already paid revenue fees in preparation to obtain their land titles when the commission was abruptly dissolved.

Om Khati, a resident of ward 9 in Parashuram Municipality, who has been cultivating land since 1980 but sans land ownership certificate, expressed similar frustration. “We were told the process was moving forward, and we even cooperated with land surveys and revenue collection,” he said. “But the government’s sudden decision to scrap the commission has thrown us back to uncertainty. We are once again the residents on land we’ve lived on for decades but do not have legal papers,” Khati lamented.

The Sushila Karki-led government formed in the aftermath of Gen Z protests dissolved the Land Problem Settlement Commission constituted by the erstwhile KP Sharma Oli administration claiming the structure of the commission was unnecessarily large and the incumbent government does not have mandate for land distribution.

The decision to dissolve the commission came as part of the government’s broader restructuring of land governance, citing overlapping jurisdictions and irregularities. However, rights groups have criticised the move, saying it disproportionately affects the most marginalised.

The commission-led by CPN-UML leader Hari Prasad Rijal was dissolved when it was close to distributing land ownership certificates in various places. Soon after taking the charge in July last year, the Oli Cabinet had dissolved the previous commission and formed a new one led by Rijal two months later. The commission was manned by around 350 political appointees across the country.

The commission had begun formalising ownership for thousands of families across the country—many of them Dalits or people displaced by natural disasters.

Kailash Kumar Pandey, the former chairperson of the dissolved commission in Dadeldhura, said significant progress had been made in a short time. “In just eight months, we distributed land ownership certificates to 322 households in four local units. We had planned to provide certificates to an additional 2,000 households by the end of the current fiscal year of 2025-26,” he said.

According to Pandey, the commission completed land surveys of 267 plots in Parashuram Municipality, 618 in Ganyapdhura Rural Municipality, 372 in Alital Rural Municipality, 44 in Nawadurga Rural Municipality, 200 in Ajaymeru Rural Municipality and 15 in Bhageshwar Rural Municipality. It also collected Rs1.167 million in revenue from beneficiaries as part of the ownership process. “We had reached the final stage of authentication and certificate distribution,” Pandey said. “Now, everything is on hold.”

Devdutta Pandey, chief of the District Survey Office in Dadeldhura, said legal clarity is now needed to continue the process. “For those who have already paid revenue after land measurement, we plan to issue ownership certificates by November 1,” he said. “However, other cases fall outside our legal jurisdiction until new directives come from the central government.”

For many landless families, this uncertainty feels like history repeating itself. Despite decades of political promises, the dream of land ownership remains elusive once again. The dissolved commission was the 16th since the restoration of democracy in the country in 1990.