{"id":104240,"date":"2020-07-04T15:41:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-04T22:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=104240"},"modified":"2020-07-04T15:41:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-04T22:41:00","slug":"who-says-mcc-is-not-linked-to-bim-saviya-title-registration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/07\/04\/who-says-mcc-is-not-linked-to-bim-saviya-title-registration\/","title":{"rendered":"Who says MCC is not linked to Bim Saviya (Title Registration)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\nis a notion that MCC has nothing to do with Title Registration because it was a\nproject started well before MCC Compact was introduced. The answer is only half\ncorrect. Yes, Title Registration Act 21, was passed in 1998 but it was not\nimplemented. It was introduced as a World Bank project and passed as an Act in\n1998. First stage was launched in 2007. World Bank funded the project probably\nsniffing that the terrorist conflict was drawing to a close and the\ninternational players needed to alternate ways to keep Sri Lanka on a leash.\nLet\u2019s not forget the international cartel use foreign investment &\naid\/grants with hidden intentions and these projects have been tried out in\ndoses in different countries. With more people questioning their entry \u2013 their\nresponse has been to legislatively pass their projects to make them domestic\nlaw yet giving them full diplomatic immunity. With the entry of MCC the Title\nRegistration project began get steam rolled completely ignoring the\ncomplications associated with transferring 8.5m land plots which has been\nfollowing a deed registration system. Now the country is expected to transfer\nfrom locally practiced deed system to title registration &\nforeign\/international laws for a paltry $67million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOW BIM SAVIYA (Title\nRegistration) CAME <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Torrens\nLand Title Registration is a foreign title registration system first launched\nin Australia in 1858. In 1998 this system was introduced not because Sri\nLankans wanted or asked for it but because World Bank recommended it. The Act\nwas passed without debate in Parliament or discussion by public. The banks\nprotested by submitting reports, the Sri Lanka Bar Association presented\nreasons for why it was detrimental and lawyers even made representations later\nwhen Mahinda Rajapakse became President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nreports made it clear that Sri Lanka cannot function with a law practiced for\nover 100 years in Australia, which completely repeals the law practiced for\nover 100 years in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Title\nRegistration is the process by which Sri Lanka\u2019s private deeds are taken by the\nState and replaced with an one page title registration certificate. There are\nvarious issues associated with this some of which include that title\nregistration is only given to one owner. There is no scope for co-ownership,\neven a husband & wife cannot have joint-property, issues related to\nlife-interest ownership etc while title registration will also remove personal\ncustomary laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nTitle Registration is being rolled out in Sri Lanka as Bim Saviya though the\nlegal and binding name should be Title Registration. However, of the 8.5million\nland plots only 700,000 people have so far received title registration\ncertificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nprocess of taking deeds and converting them to title registration & handing\nthe deed owner a registration certificate has been happening at a snail\u2019s pace.\nOne of the main reasons for this is that grievances related to co-ownership,\nlife interest and other issues relevant to its omission in the title\nregistration can only be taken up at grievance stage with the district courts\nbut not after the title registration certificate has been issued. In short,\ncourt intervention in Title Registration is only to the district court stage\nand not beyond. Supreme Court has no adjudication and instead the Commissioner\nof Title is tasked to adjudicate where only compensation can be given but not\nthe returning of one\u2019s land lost for some faulty reason like fraud or wrong\nentry. You can imagine the numerous scenarios where hiccups can happen at\nvillage level among the poor & legally illiterate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nthis process has been happening since 2007 without much enthusiasm from\nofficials or owners, simply because funding has come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep\nin mind how FUNDING and INVESTMENTS are modern means of \u2018invading\u2019 and\n\u2018plundering\u2019 nations by other means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka undergoes regime change in 2015\ninstalling a bandwagon of individuals and parties that have a series of\ntreacheries to their name. Out of the blues a mass murder takes place and\nwithin days MCC gift\u201d of $480m is announced. MCC is the 3rd<\/sup>arm\nof America\u2019s 3D tactic under the Indo-Pacific Strategy. (Defense-ACSA\/Diplomacy-SOFA\/Development-MCC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every\nfunding from US whether it is by USAID or MCC or any other comes from US\nTreasury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MCC\n& its associates claim Sri Lanka\u2019s 2 issues are Transport & Land out of\nwhich $67m was to be allocated for the land project which in reality is the\nmost dangerous & invasive of the 2 projects. The draft agreement is\nreluctantly made public amidst mass protests. For even the most ordinary\nlaymen, reading the clauses is no different to giving one\u2019s land to a donor to\nbuild a house to discover that one has not only lost one\u2019s land, house and\nevidence that one even owned the land! With all these factors erased one has\nnothing to prove even to a court. Imagine this happening to even half of the\n8.5million plot owners!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MCC\nland project is plugged to the Title registration primarily because it is a\nforeign system that foreign legal consultants are experts in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annex\n1-28 answers the question that Title Registration (Bim Saviya) is directly\nlinked to MCC Land Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even\nif MCC is not signed the funding ensures what MCC wants as project scope is\nwhat is being implemented on the ground. It is extremely important for everyone\nto understand this. Simply because MCC is NOT SIGNED (YET) do not think that\nthe elements under the MCC objectives are not taking place. It is na\u00efve to\nthink that by not signing, the MCC project is over because what MCC project\nplan envisages is taking place as all of the projects mentioned above are\noperational. That these initiatives are taking place because of foreign funding\nand because of criteria stipulated by international agencies like World Bank,\nUSAID which are the key actors in the MCC overall project is important to\nrealize the nature of their game plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only\none pre-condition could not be fulfilled by yahapalana. This was to privatize\nall 84% of State land. The former PM tried to do so 4 times by presenting the\nState Land Privatization Bill but did not succeed. Had the Bill been passed all\nof Sri Lanka\u2019s land would have been turned into private land and there would\nhave been no state land in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without\na doubt, alternate avenues must be getting explored to privatize state land.\nThey did try one alternate method the Ruhunu Development Act but that too\nfailed. However, they will be now working on various other models to get state\nland privatized or devolved to the provinces and away from the Central\nGovernment via $$$ funding. Notice how foreign embassies are making a cry over\nlands being given to provinces under 13a \u2013 why are they so bothered about our\nland? Why do they want forests to be under provinces? Why are they giving\nfunding specifically for projects that eye our resources?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nhave to seriously look at the nature of these \u2018foreign investments\u2019 and what\nthe exact benefit for Sri Lanka is for what they assume to give us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus,\nMCC though not signed as yet has the advantage of pushing more funding to\nensure the title registration process is expedited alongside the e-land\nregistration which was advertised by the US embassy Colombo and private parties\nselected by the embassy to enter into the e-land registry the title\nregistration certificates from deeds. The computer system that is operating the\ne-land registration is foreign and for every change Sri Lanka is asked to pay.\nWhat we are now paying for will not be even considered with signing of MCC\nunder clause 3.9 Intellectual Property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus\neven without the MCC signing the initiatives under MCC Land Project is taking\nplace. We should not think that because MCC is not signed Title Registration is\na separate project. MCC & US Government must be laughing because what they\nwant is happening even without a signature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndanger of this lies if another regime change is engineered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nyahapalana II is returned to power and with 99% of the title\nregistration\/e-land registry, State land inventory & valuation is complete,\npropping a US-friendly government to power will mean a quick signing of MCC and\nthe immediate enactment of clauses 3.9 (intellectual property over all of Sri\nLanka\u2019s data) MCC 6.8 clause where MCC will be given full immunity for anything\nin Sri Lanka may not be even necessary if ACSA and SOFA are signed as this will\nallow US military to \u2018tour\u2019 Sri Lanka when they like, as they like and commit\nwhat they like with impunity & immunity. ACSA-SOFA-MCC cannot be taken\nseparately from each other. All 3 are part of US Govt. Immunity to one\nautomatically gives immunity to all US personnel arriving in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Therefore,\nit is important that the GoSL realize this danger and immediately come up with\nan alternative and take local ownership of all land projects especially e-land\nregistry and have our IT experts take complete control with a set of patriotic\nlawyers to look into every legal angle as well as ensure that all manual deeds\nare conserved and protected as well as we do have an electronic transaction act\nthat prohibits fully automation of land under an e-registry. Just because a\ncountry or a monetary organization is offering a grant, no country should have\nto cede its land ownership, sovereignty or historical identity to the foreign\nparty & have it changed or erased by them because they recommend to do so\nwith their funding!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge There is a notion that MCC has nothing to do with Title Registration because it was a project started well before MCC Compact was introduced. The answer is only half correct. Yes, Title Registration Act 21, was passed in 1998 but it was not implemented. It was introduced as a World Bank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}