{"id":96858,"date":"2019-12-25T22:27:51","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T04:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=96858"},"modified":"2020-02-04T15:40:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T22:40:29","slug":"is-sri-lankas-parliament-protecting-sri-lankas-land-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/25\/is-sri-lankas-parliament-protecting-sri-lankas-land-sovereignty\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Sri Lanka\u2019s Parliament Protecting Sri Lanka\u2019s Land Sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nregard to LAND there are critical factors Sri Lanka cannot afford to ignore any\nlonger. We are into 72 years of \u2018independence\u2019 but still following colonial\nstatutes and it is nothing we can be too proud about. It is essential to\nrealize that these colonial statutes were drawn up by colonial invaders to suit\ntheir administration under which our natives were subservient. True, we gained\nadult suffrage and education but that too had ulterior motives in developing\nbrown sahibs to continue colonial rule in new colonial form. Nonetheless, for a\ncountry to proudly stand up for sovereignty and territorial integrity, it must\nessential draft its own laws and regulations to suit its governance while of\ncourse conforming to \u2018international standards\u2019 but keeping national sovereignty\nrespected by all & in tact. It is not simply a reversal or opposite of\ncolonial laws that is required but reforming the laws to suit natives in their present\nliving conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having\nunderstood the gist of this let us first look at the problems in hand<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Existing Colonial Statutes & Preservation of Land\nRegistry Post independence?<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Sri\nLanka is still maintaining the 1863 land registry. It is now broken into 45\nland registries which cover 9.5million blocks of Sri Lanka\u2019s land area (State\n& Private) and scattered in different state buildings. Are these books in\ngood condition? Have they got damaged? Is there a national policy that demands\ntheir maintenance? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These\n45 land registry books are 156 years old. How many have thought of their wear\n& tear and need to preserve them or to ensure that they are not harmed?\nHave successive governments taken action to ensure every land registry is\nprevented from damage and harm and most importantly kept secured? None of these\nland registries have been completely digitalized. Imagine the state they are\nin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However,\nthere is the reconstruction statute and this provision must be used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Foreigners doing Sri Lanka\u2019s Land Research\/Reports\n& Recommendations<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      World\nBank & USAID have done more reports on Sri Lanka\u2019s land than Sri Lanka has\ntasked its academics, students and ministry departments. It is based on their\nresearch and recommendations that funding is being requested by Sri Lanka or\ngiven. $5million was given by World Bank to digitalize Sri Lanka\u2019s land deeds.\nSimply giving money is insufficient even World Bank concluded in its own 2001 report\nwhich deemed Sri Lanka not ready for digitalization. World Bank gave 15 to 25\nyears for Sri Lanka to increase tenure security for farmers and land holders,\nenable efficient land transactions, recover cost over long-term and land\nadministration to be without political, social class or ethnic based. 20 years\nhas passed and none of these objectives have been fulfilled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This\nsame 2001 World Bank report said the GOSL (RanilW\u2019s Govt) now wants to\ntransform the country\u2019s land administration system from one based on deeds and\ndocuments permitting private use of State land to one based on registration of\ntitles\u201d (the 1998 Govt via Bim Saviya began to change deeds to titles and then\nthe 2001 Govt wanted to change deeds to titles with no definition of private\nwhich could mean foreign private too) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      While\nwe appreciate the efforts of World Bank & USAID to research and publish\nreports on land in Sri Lanka we must also be mindful of the recommendations\nthat come with the carrot of funding. Why does World Bank want to lift the land\nmarket restrictions? Is it to convert our agricultural land to grow some other\ncrop. Sri Lanka has about 1m titles that restrict what can be done with land \u2013\nwhy did the UNP Govt and World Bank wish to remove these restrictions and their\nstudies showed that by amending articles in the Land Development Ordinance of\n1935 they could do so. The World Bank Reports are well researched and seem to\nhave even identified all the restrictions (State Land Ordinance 1949, Land\nReform Law 1972, Land Grants (special provisions) 1979. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Recommendations\nfor improvements to land law in Sri Lanka is based on foreign reports & by\nforeign research teams and recommendations are by foreigners on what they deem\nsuitable for Sri Lanka. Will foreign recommended laws implemented secure and\nprotect our intellectual property rights? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • Haphazard Decisions based on foreign funding – Changing\nentire law of the country? <\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        BIM SAVIYA (transferring from Deed\nRegistration to Title Registration)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Australian \u2018Torrens System\u2019 of title registration – Registration\nof Titles Act No. 21 of 1998, known as Bim Saviya which requires compulsory\ntitle registration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In\n1998 a sudden change in land took place probably due to funding associated with\nthe proposal that changed Sri Lanka\u2019s land law from deed system to title\nsystem. Whose decision was it to bring another foreign law into the colonial\nlaws we were already complying with without much change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        How\nmany are aware that this Act 21 of 1998 has taken away the rights of the\nJudiciary to adjudicate land frauds and the rights of the people to seek\njustice for land issues. In lieu of the judiciary a new title Commissioner of\nTitle is created to adjudicate 9.5million blocks of land! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        However,\nthe Registrar of Lands says that 50% of Sri Lanka\u2019s land deeds are fraudulent \u2013\nin such a scenario without resolving this 50% of land cases via courts how\ncorrect is it to include fraudulent deeds into electronic form \u2013 denying the\noriginal owner the right to claim his\/her land?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Let\u2019s\nnot forget the Empire State Building in US was \u2018sold\u2019 for $2b by a \u2018Willie\nSutton\u2019 and deed was registered within 90minutes in US electronic register. The\nregistration could be reversed because it was the Empire State Building but\nwill the same happen to others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Were the lawyers aware that the law of co-ownership and the law\nof prescription was removed at the Bill stage of Act 21 of 1998?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Have\nthose who introduced Bim Saviya in 1998 thought about the consequences of taken\naway people\u2019s deeds, where to store them, aspects of hacking and cyber crime\nwhen digitalizing records (no system is foul proof) at least with physical\nrecords, there are ways to make duplicate copies and keep for owners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Section 33 of the Act judiciary is given no power to hear cases\nrelated to land ownership especially if the grantees ownership is affected by\nfraud. The grantee will have to seek compensation in lieu of his ownership. The\njudiciary cannot question the entries in the registry made by the Registrar General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Under\nAct 21 a grantee under the new bill could not pass half share of the land\n to his or her spouse or child to be a co-owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The banks cannot give them loans if the wife becomes a\nco-owner.  How can he obtain bank loans if a salaried family member was\nnot joined as a co-owner <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Given\nthe context of land issues and its association with colonial land statutes how\nfar have successive governments spent on remedying the irregularities and\nbringing laws and outdated statutes to suit and conform with Sri Lanka\u2019s laws\nas well as its Constitution?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        ONLY\nRelief we have is the 7 day window to file FR in Supreme Court. Can lawyers afford to rely on the 7 days to study\nstatutes & file complaint? Are the foreign lawyers not taking advantage of\nthis?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        • Digitalizing Sri Lanka\u2019s deeds & Land Registry<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Digitalizing\nmeans reducing physical land registry. Ideally, it is good to have one large\nbuilding to house all of the 45 land registries and the computer systems with\nthe electronic land deeds with local technical and computer experts. In any\nemergency the referral option is available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The\nSri Lanka Survey Dept has developed a Land Information System & put each\nblock of land into a 12 digit system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Without\npassing the Land Bank Act which was part of the MCC pre-condition, a US outsourced\ncompany is now doing cadastral mapping across Sri Lanka. Why has it not been\ngiven to the Sri Lankan Survey Dept to do? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          According\nto former Survey General who had been working for the department since 1978 \u2013\nRs.5000million had been spent from 2007 to 2018 ($28m) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          In\n2007 World Bank had given $5m to digitalize deeds <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Sadly, only 200,000 of the 9.5m blocks of land has been digitalized from 1998-2019\ninto 10 land registries. So in 20 years we have digitalized only 200,000 blocks\nof land for the $5million given by World Bank excluding the maintenance &\nother costs<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Clearly, $67m allocation for land\nproject by MCC is not enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          MCC will have to wait 300 years in Sri\nLanka to digitalize 9.5million blocks of land! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          For\nany GPS, paperless digital translation to search land title with 12 digit\nunique number the first requirement is to ensure the Registry has the legal\nowners. What we have is a set of new systems which are half in operation without\nfirst addressing the most important element \u2013 who are the legal land owners and\nregister them first to the computerized land registry. What good is a land\nregistration system if we have not first addressed land identification issues?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          • Is Sri Lanka ready to digitalize land registry &\ndeeds?<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            The\nmost important part of the 2001 World Bank project was that World Bank\nidentified Sri Lanka was NOT READY for any type of digitalization. The key issues\nare important for the team presently studying ONLY the MCC Agreement without\nlooking at the larger and more critical land related issues the policy makers\nare ignoring.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            World Bank says Sri Lanka is NOT\nREADY for any type of digitalization because <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1. Land settlement dept staff lacks skills in\nadjudication <\/li>
            2. Organizational framework for title registries is not\nefficient, effective or sustainable<\/li>
            3. No published results, workshops or stakeholder\ndiscussions have reviewed progress of ongoing titling activities<\/li>
            4. Little coordination between survey & adjudication\nstaff is wasting govt budgets<\/li>
            5. 50% cases incomplete <\/li>
            6. coverage limited to rural areas<\/li>
            7. large-scale financing of systematic titling unlikely<\/li>
            8. lack of modern and efficient survey & information\ntechnology in titling<\/li>
            9. absence in involving private sector to supplement\ngovernment capacity to speed up titling registration<\/li>
            10. no motivation to carry out continuing land related\npolicy reform dialogue<\/li>
            11. human resource development essential for efficient long-term\nland titling program not addressed<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              Going Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              There\nare millions of books in the land registry which are over 200 years old which\nnedd to be scanned for digitalization and archiving. What Sri Lanka lacks and\nwhat Sri Lanka\u2019s government must invest in are digital engineers and train Sri\nLankan citizens instead of having to outsource a nationally-important activity\nto foreigners \u2013 that too for an exorbitant payment often increasing if the\nterms and conditions are not finalized properly. External contractors shrewdly\nquote for a feature often hiding other required complimentary future features\nwhich are undertaken only if another fee is paid. If not, that project ends up\ngathering dust with only part work done. New features to be inserted over time\nhave to be given to the same outsourced company as they keep all the passwords\nand back office access features. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Sadly,\nit has been foreign-funded international bodies who have been studying Sri\nLanka\u2019s land laws and customary practices and prepared extensive reports. World\nBank and USAID have studied all of Sri Lanka\u2019s land statutes. Have Sri Lanka\u2019s\nland and legal fraternity as well as academia done the same and has successive\ngovernments funded these initiatives that should have been done locally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              World\nBank & USAID spent time and money on reports but have been disappointed\nwith the progress & have abandoned the recommendations. Ironically, it is making\nuse of these misgivings that the MCC project team are now attempting to\nmanipulate to their country\u2019s geopolitical and trade advantage. MCC wants\ncontrol over 11 land registries? Why? If MCC a US government body takes over\nthese land registries & digitalizes them, only they are privy to the laws\nand back office. Sri Lanka will have no access without MCC approvals. Any\ngovernment should regard this aspect a national security threat & risk.\nLand is the essence of a country\u2019s sovereignty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Mrs.\nKirtimala Gunasekera suggested Sri Lanka adopts systems similar to India &\nMalaysia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              • biometric\nidentification similar to the Bhoomi Project in India where 20m records of land\nownership of 6.7m farmers in a state was computerized (with anti-hacking\nsystem)<\/li>
              • Electronic land\nadministration system in Malaysia is called e-Tanah \u2013 where land registry has a\nsecurity system to prevent land fraud via thumb impression plus signature. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                Saving Sri Lankas\u2019 Land from impulsive legislative\nchanges prompted by foreign funds is what Sri Lanka needs to be mindful of. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

                With regard to LAND there are critical factors Sri Lanka cannot afford to ignore any longer. We are into 72 years of \u2018independence\u2019 but still following colonial statutes and it is nothing we can be too proud about. It is essential to realize that these colonial statutes were drawn up by colonial invaders to suit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96858","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\/96858","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\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}