Ownership of land made simple, clear and accurate

Ranil WIJEYAPALA

Inheriting a land with a clear deed is a foundation for life for any citizen, as it adds more strength to him or her to reach prosperity in life. But this has become one of the biggest challenges in their lives due to shortcomings especially the complex nature of the land deed registration system.

Not only has it created problems to the public, but it has also paved the way for many racketeers to make easy money, in the means of the complicated nature of deed registration system. The intricate nature of the deed registration system has enabled any person to register a deed by his or her name with the assistance of a notary public, and also to sell a non-existing land to anybody on a forged deed.

People with little knowledge on land transactions easily fall prey to this vicious system and the most unfortunate thing is that some of the cases end up with suicide or other form of tragedy.

Sometimes, they have been dragged into land disputes continuing for generations without reaching settlement. It not only wastes their hard earned money but also leaves the disputed land unused.

The complex nature of the deed registration system, absence of a simple system to check the authenticity of land ownership; its extent and boundaries, and the lengthy legal statements inserted in the deeds, which could be understood only by the people with a fair knowledge on legal jargon have distanced this deed registration system from the common masses.

The situation with regard to the privately owned land is worse as majority of the private land owners are without ownership. This situation has left majority of land plots without proper deeds.

“It was due to this complex and aggravating situation we had to think of a novel and simple system to replace the current complex system of deed registration”, Land and Land Development Ministry Additional Secretary W.M. Jayathilake said.

The Registration of Title Act no.21 of 1998 came in to effect to settle the land ownership.

“Through this Act we are going to replace the current deed registration system with the Title Registration System”, Jaythilake said.

According to him, the Land and Land Development Ministry has embarked on this project under the ‘Bim Saviya’ program with the objective of improved utilization of land as a development. resource

“The program is initiated as a basic component of the Gama Neguma activities introduced by Mahinda Chinthana program. It is expected to provide a clear and Government guaranteed ownership to all legitimate land owners by empowering them to develop their lands better and promote personnel development by using the land to generate capital. At the same time it provides a land information database which will be the base for an efficient and scientific land management”, Jayathilake added.

But implementing this program is not an easy task due to the complexity of the status of the lands, its ownership and the disputes related to these lands.

The Bim Saviya program has been assigned to survey and prepare plans for every land plot and register the land along with the ownership and the right encumbrances and issue a title certificate.

The enormous task which has been undertaken by this program is evident considering the number of land plots estimated nearly 11 million due to fragmentation of lands for sale . Over 60 per cent of the lands are without clear deeds.

The Land Ministry, Land Settlement Department, Survey Department and the Registrar General Department will involve in this long and arduous project. “We have to implement this program at village level as it is the simplest administrative unit in the country”, Jayathilake added.

The Land Ministry with Divisional Secretaries’ assistance forms Coordinating Committees chaired by the Divisional Secretary in charge of the Division to activate the initial stages of the program.

The committee will also comprise the Assistant Survey Superintendent from the Survey Department, Assistant Commissioner from the Land Settlement Department, Assistant Registrar, Provincial Land Commissioner, Representatives from respective local bodies, Grama Sevaka, Land Officer and field officers.

Once the committee decides to implement this program at village level the Grama Sevaka will be dully informed and the villagers will be educated about this program after convening a meeting at village level.

Following this meeting, each villager will be informed of a date on which a surveyor and inquiry officer visit their houses. On the particular date the land owners should submit their deeds, and other documents to prove their land ownership and the surveyor will make a rough note about the boundaries of the respective land plot.

At this stage people have to sign a document agreeing to the boundaries of the land. If there are any disagreement with regard to boundaries they will be given two days to settle the disputes. If they could not come to a settlement within the given two days the matter will be forwarded to a reconciliation board set up at village level. If they cannot reach a settlement even at this level the cases will be forwarded to Courts for legal settlement.

“We are trying our best to settle these disputes at the conciliatory board level”, Jayathilake added.

At this stage the Surveyors prepare a plan for each village and each land parcel at zonal level and measure the extent of the land and provide 12 digit number which include national grid reference number to that land to easily identify the land parcel. The inquiry officers will continue with their inquiries to clear the ownership of the land.

Once the master plan for the village and the boundaries of each land parcel is prepared by surveyors with the assistance of the DS and Grama Sevakas the Land Ministry will issue a gazette notification publishing the rough map of the lands along with the list of owners prepared by the inquiry officers or filed officers.

The advantage of the Bim Saviya program is that even those who do not possess deeds or any other documents to prove their ownership, with the help of the Grama Niladari and other filed officers, the Land Settlement Commissioner can take a decision on the ownership enabling the people to obtain a title certificate for their land.

Even those who are in the same land, without dividing the land, can make use of the program to divide the land with the consent of all parties.

“With regard to the state lands we have to deal with Land Development Ordnance, Crown Land Ordnance, Land Grants Special Provisions Act, Land Reforms Law, and with the relevant state agencies under which the ownership of the land comes like the National Housing Development Authority, Urban Development Authority, Archaeological Department, Forest Department, Wildlife Department and Mahaweli Authrity “, Jayathilake added.

To settle land disputes we forward some cases to Conciliatory Boards with the nominations from the Divisional Secretary, leaders of the area and Grama Sevaka. “Most cases regarding the boundaries of the land parcels can be settled at the Conciliatory Board level and the cases that cannot be settled at the conciliatory board level forwarded for legal settlement”, he added.

Once the process of clearing the land ownership is completed to the satisfaction of the Registrar General, the title certificate which includes the plan of the land parcel, its 12 digit identification number with national grid reference and its owner, will be registered at the Registrar General Department which comes under the Public Administration Ministry.

“After the completion of this process people can inherit a clear title certificate which is legally accepted by any private or state sector institution for any form of transaction”, Jayathilake added.

According to P.M.P. Udayakantha, Assistant Secretary to the Land Ministry and the Head of the Bim Saviya program, the program has been implemented in six Divisional Secretariat Divisions (Udapalatha, Doluwa, Balangoda, Divulapitiya, Homagama and Tambuttegama and a procedure adoptable to Sri Lanka has been identified and agreed on.

“A 15 year year program has been prepared to cover the whole country by Bim Saviya Activity”, he added.

“Institutional, legal and procedural improvements are now being carried out as a preparation for national level activity”, Udayakantha said.

In addition several critical amendments to the Registration of Title Act have been identified and the amendments are formulated by the legal draftsman.” They are required to be passed by the Parliament soon”, he added.

The Bim Saviya program has selected Divisional Secretariat Divisions, Gampola, Doluwa, Udunuwara in the Kandy district, Divulapitiya and Meerigama in the Gampaha district, Balangoda and Weligepola from the Ratnapaura district,

“With the completion of this program all the lands in the country will be registered under one data base at the Registrar General Department along with the land owners. This is completely different from the earlier system of deed registration as the land registration is not mandatory under deed registration system”, he added.

As a result of the Bim Saviya program a digital Land Information System will be established and made available for planners and decision makers. It will be an asset for scientific land administration, he said.