Julia Eckert, Georg Elwert (1996):
Land Tenure in Uzbekistan

1.3 Missing regulations

The legal framework of the land reform lacks time frames for the different administrative activities. In order to prevent undue delays equalling refusals, applications for land by farmers should be dealt with within a set period of time. Currently, allotment procedures can be protracted. In two cases of our investigation farmers had been waiting for a decision for two years. [FN 15] They could not complain to a court since the application was being dealt with and no rule had been breached. They feared that they would have to wait another two years without the possibility of demanding a decision.

This problem is connected to the contradictory development of the laws in general: Decisions are withheld with the justification that the legal situation was changing too rapidly and could be entirely different tomorrow. Generally the temporariness of the legal landscape serves as a justification for a hesitant implementation of the reforms. Against this form of refusal there is no recourse to legal process.

Also, as mentioned above, the possibilities of a differentiated land tenure system are not explored. Details of property rights like encumbrances the right of pre-emption or the right to use land as collateral have not been included in the legal framework. There is no bankruptcy law. Overall there is a tendency to try and concentrate on few form of land tenure. Instead a variety of forms of tenure should be introduced and their specific advantages for certain conditions examined. (See chapter 7. on suggestions for development co-operation.)