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The government has ordered that all unspent and surplus funds accumulated under the contingency head of old land acquisition cases must be deposited into the consolidated fund of the public account of the Republic within 30 days. To ensure transparency and accountability in the expenditure, record-keeping, and overall management of land acquisition contingency funds, a new regulatory framework has been enacted. The "Land Acquisition Contingency (LAC) Fund Management Guidelines, 2026" was officially published in the extra issue of the Bangladesh Gazette on August 31.
The guidelines state that for all land acquisition cases where case dockets have been archived in record rooms via consignment and three years have elapsed since the audit of award adjustments by the accounting office, all unused and unspent money received or deposited under the LAC head must be deposited into the government treasury. Authorities have directed that this money be credited to the consolidated fund of the public account of the Republic within 30 days from the issuance date of the new guidelines.
Regarding ongoing LAC fund management, the newly introduced guidelines further dictate that following the final disposal of land acquisition proceedings, unspent funds may be retained in the designated account for a maximum period of three years, during which allocations can be utilized exclusively for approved heads. Once the handover of land possession and the auditing of award adjustments by the accounts department are completed and the stipulated three-year period passes, any remaining surplus balance must be surrendered to the consolidated fund of the Republic with prior notification to the Ministry of Land.
The guidelines specify that alongside compensation funds collected from requiring bodies or individuals, contingency funds must be maintained in separate Personal Ledger (PL) accounts. These funds do not constitute state revenue or fiscal income; instead, they are dedicated strictly to meeting incidental expenditures related to case management and project implementation, requiring dedicated cashbooks and ledgers for systematic accounting.
According to the guidelines, LAC fees will be assessed on government and autonomous entities at 3 percent for estimates up to Tk 1 crore and 2 percent for amounts exceeding Tk 1 crore. For private entities or individually owned acquisition proposals, a flat fee of 10 percent will be charged on the entire estimated acquisition value. The directives also state that contingency balances gathered for a specific land acquisition case cannot ordinarily be diverted toward expenses in unrelated cases. However, during emergencies, funds may be reallocated with prior approval from the Finance Division via the Ministry of Land.
To enforce accountability, Deputy Commissioners must submit an annual account of LAC expenditures and case-specific surplus balances to the Ministry of Land through their respective Divisional Commissioners. All expenditures will follow conventional financial rules and will be audited by the Office of the Controller of Accounts (Revenue) under the Ministry of Land. With the enforcement of the new guidelines, all prior circulars, orders, and instructions governing the management of land acquisition contingency funds stand formally repealed.
