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https://dailyasianage.com/news/250135/bangladesh-government-does-not-give--document-of-land-ownership

Published: 12:13 AM, 20 December 2020

Bangladesh Government does not give document of land ownership

M S Siddiqui Bangladesh has the lowest land-man ratio in the world, which is estimated by FAO in 2013 to be 0.06 hectares per person. Land scarcity relative to demand is showing up in accelerating increases in land Prices in most part of the country. The growing pressure of population on land, as well as the Islamic law of inheritance, the demand for land and the disputes over title will increase further. Land is a critical economic asset in any economy. Land registration and titling is the heated issue across developing countries to reduce poverty and better growth and development. Inadequate and improper land records increase difficulties in securing land tenure and land transfer and hindering investment in Bangladesh. The need for a timely, accurate, safe, simple, secure, and universally accessible system of registering and recording land transactions are prerequisite for local and overseas investment is an urgent need for Bangladesh. The present land records system dates back to 1850s.The system of record-keeping was initiated by the British rulers only to maintain the record of land tax payers. At that time, tax on agricultural land, an important source of government revenues, required identification of those responsible for paying it. The records were updated to reflect changes of ownership for the sake of revenue collection by the Board of Revenue. Over time, these records and it had become the principal source or document of the title of agricultural land. These records still constitute the principal documentation of title on land, even though there are problems in the accuracy, completeness, and currency of these records. Unfortunately, government does not issue a really valid certificate with guarantee that the person mentioned in the records-of rights is the true owner. The Transfer of Property Act, 1882 also does not envision that the state will guarantee title to property. The transfer of Property Act sec. 53E paves the way for government to avoid responsibility. In case of transfer, every instrument of sale, gift, mortgage and declaration of heba of any immoveable property shall be supported by an affidavit by the seller affirming that s/he has lawful title to the property and Sec. 108 has specified the rights and responsibilities of buyer and seller but missing the responsibility of registration authority. The Registrar registering a document records a transaction but does not guarantee that the transaction is valid. The registrar by entering the transaction in the official records only confirms the validity and accuracy of the document but the office does not thereby give any assurance of title to the transferor of the property. The Registration Act envisages the registration of documents and not the registration of titles. The Registrar is neither empowered nor required to question the transaction. All the disputes are “settled” in the court. The entries in the sales registers for the transactions are not viewed as conclusive evidence, although these may be viewed as prima facie evidence of ownership. As per law, the courts in Bangladesh maintain that registered land documents or receipts of property tax in the name of the person do not ensure title but only serve as evidence to a title which is taken into consideration when scrutinizing the bonafide of a person claiming to have a ‘legal’ title. Therefore, it is not the concern of the Registrar to establish the validity of a document.

During the registration of sell, the registration office does not go into questions of title, the legality of transactions and the validity of the document. The entries in the records-of-rights can be challenged in courts since there is no guarantee of title envisaged in the law. In other words, if the records were to be proved wrong later, the state could not be taken to court and a suit filed against it. It is Interesting that the policy land management of government claimed to perform three core functions: (i) record keeping, (ii) registration, and (iii) settlement. The core functions of land administration are maintained by various departments of two Ministries- The Ministry of Land (MoL) and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MLJP). MoL discharges most of the land-related activities including survey, collection of land development tax, arbitration process, the MLJP mainly records land mutation and transfers and MLJP mainly records land mutation and transfers. These responsible ministries and their agencies involved for land management and administration work independently with little coordination among them. The then British law and practice was drawn to create a corrupt but loyal administration with a higher social status, so that they help the rulers, in their own class interest to stay in control of the country. The process of records and settlement were in favor of powerful and close people to the administration. Moreover, each and every dispute goes to court and take usually decades to settle with huge loss of both the parties in dispute. In the Torrens Act system for land records in some countries has given limited authority to the courts over the records of titles since maintenance of records with administrative procedure. The court in Bangladesh is over burden of cases and most of the cases are on the basis of land dispute and most of the criminal cases also related to dispute over civil disputes. The court has long case-log and my this burden be reduced case of land dispute with proper and correct land records. The whole process of record keeping is manual, laborious and time intensive. Conventional methods of land survey, preparation and up gradation of land records, maintenance of all related data is full of mistakes due to corrupt practice of the related offices. Many other countries have already updated the land records and get benefit of the system. The Torrens System adopted in Australia and over 50 countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tunis, and Syria. Experiences in several Australian states shows that when the central government created a database of all pieces of lands and their respective owners. The process of correctness of records are very prompt and user friendly for the land owners. It also helps to detect many more legitimate tax-payers. The Land Transfer Act the registered holder is regarded as the sole owner. The difference of the English system from the Torrens system, which is much simpler, is that titles can be corrected in the event of mistake or fraud. The system in USA is more dynamic. In each of the 3,600 counties has its own system for recording title transactions which is not registration systems. Unlike the Torrens and English systems, the evaluation of the validity and the quality of the title in the U.S. system is the responsibility of owners using the data in government custody. These changes have made the U.S. system similar to the Torrens and English systems with respect to the convenience it brings to buyers on the quality of the title to land. Government may take immediate steps to prepare and national land use policy and digitalize the land records and keep the information open for all so that the real owner may take up the mistakes or misinformation before a dispute arises. Government may prepare inventory of khash land and land zoning and prepare different zone for different purposes for economic use of scared land. Government must ensure that their records are correct and must issue document of ownership of lands to avoid litigation and harassment of citizens for the sake of peace in the society and smooth economic activities.

The writer is a legal economist. Email: mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com