The disputes over land involve the greatest number of civil and criminal cases in the country. Litigation over land claims, ownerships and related incidents keep engaged the greater part of the capacities of the country’s legal systems. The amounts drained by litigants in such land related hassles are also very great.
It would be possible to save a great deal of precious resources as well as energies and time both by individuals and the legal system if these land related legal and illegal disputes could be far limited in number. But the doing of it requires indispensably the upgrading of the land administration or essentially the keeping, using and retrieving of land related various records.
Presently, such records are kept in outdated conditions by today’s global standards in most places of the country away from Dhaka. However, this is not to say that a start has not been made to upgrade the keeping of land records and to that end computerization was attempted in some land offices. But these cases are more the exceptions and not the rule. Keeping of land records still remain archaic in most land offices all over the country. Therefore, there is a challenge to be overcome to introduce extensively and fully the various computerized services in the land offices.
As it is, typically leaking roofs and other drawbacks and lack of care in ill maintained record rooms in many areas destroy hand written records of decades ago . Besides, the present mode of keeping the records provides lucrative opportunities to their keepers in wasting time in the name of searching for them and also to tamper with them for the pecuniary gains. The media reported how records even disappear from record rooms or falsified records are authenticated and given in response to bribes to unscrupulous record room keepers.
In fact, the entire system of land recording and using the same is shot through with scopes for corruption and taking of bribes at every step. Surveys to determine the status of up-to-date land ownership are carried out at very long intervals but the final records are not made available promptly. Thus, the results of such surveys carried out in the eighties or nineties are in some cases yet to be finally published showing titles to property declared against the new owners properly from changes of ownership due to sale or inheritance.
This situation of non publication of survey reports in time provides the opportunity to land office officials to demand for mutation in each case of registration and they make money under the table from providing such dubious mutation certificates that in turn understandably lead to many litigations later on. But all of these scopes for bribery and paving the way for litigations can be avoided from completion of surveys in a reasonable period of time and publication and enforcement of their results at the fastest.
A digitalized or computerized manner of keeping land records for all categories of users can be the effective solution to many crimes, corruption and troubles faced in this area. But the digitalization process is going on slowly it seems . It should be accelerated.
Clearly, the outmoded processes need to give way to complete digitalization at the soonest. A comprehensive plan should be prepared for the purpose and funds placed and utilized at an early date for the plan to take off in the full sense of the term. This is really a developmental issue of significance and should be addressed with high priority by whoever is in power.
The government has recently approved a Tk 3.37billion project recently in order to prepare a digital database for ensuring a transparent land management system in the country.
Aimed at eradicating widespread corruption in the land management, another similar project was taken up back in 2012. Work on the project remained halted for more than a year for unknown reasons and afterwards, it was abandoned.
In the earlier event, the software of the project was readied by the land ministry. But hardware could not be installed. The digitisation of the country’s land records and registration was about to start. But suddenly, the Inspector General of Registration (IGR) office cancelled the project abruptly.
Such developments had created enough doubt among service recipients and anti-graft activists about transparency of the service provider in the country’s manually-managed deed registration system. Delay in the process of ensuring good governance in the land sector will obviously encourage continued bribery, extortion and other forms of corruption in the government’s second largest revenue source after the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
On its part, the IGR claimed that they had started implementing the pilot project from 2012 at their own expenses. As they did not get required funds worth Tk 2.0 billion even after repeated requests, they were forced to halt the project work.
However, the IGR office wanted at least one year’s time to take final decision on the project. But in reality, the office took several years to accomplish this task. Such wastage of time has prolonged the digitisation of the land management.
In fact, a vested quarter in the service-providing chain, being fearful about losing extra earnings and jobs, is being blamed for the delay. Many feel shortage of funds, as being claimed by the IGR, is just a lame excuse.
The IGR office collects revenue worth about Tk 100 billion every year. The total project covering the whole of Bangladesh costs around Tk 2.0 billion. The required fund can easily be mobilised from its own earnings. It may be mentioned here that the IGR is the second highest revenue earner for the country after the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
Earlier, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) suggested initiation of the project with Tk 0.5 billion IGR fund, which is basically generated through the service charge that the service holders need to pay before receiving the registration service. The MoF also assured paying the remaining funds and released a part of it, to the tune of Tk 100 million in two phases in the 2014-2015 fiscal year. This could easily be used to complete the pilot project. Without doing so, the IGR sent back the funds to the ministry concerned.
On the protracted delay in land digitisation, the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) said delays in project implementation are nothing new or unusual, but the way this particular initiative has been subjected to procrastination can give rise to question whether an influential section of relevant officials is genuinely committed to the cause of digitisation of this vital service sector consistent with the government pledge of Digital Bangladesh.
In most countries, people get all land-related services, including that for land records and registrations, from a single office. But in Bangladesh, three offices provide the services, causing hassles to people. The present method of land recording in land management and registration offices follow the age-old system of hand-written documents.
These land record and registration offices are filled with tattered and handwritten paper documents and registers. Many of those being almost 100-year old are damaged either due to humidity or half-eaten by booklice, wood worms, termites, mice and cockroaches. The absence of an updated database is the major reason behind land disputes. A central database is needed having a comprehensive link to all land-related organisations under a single network.
The ‘dilly-dallying’ practice of the IGR office on the issue of land digitisation is otherwise raising many questions. Such office can hardly claim to have the capacity to fully utilise the allotted funds during the stipulated time. But in fact, there is no time to waste.
In the circumstances, the relevant authorities should not give in to such delaying trick. Rather, it does need to implement the latest project that has already been taken up with true resolve and unflinching support from the highest level in order to save money and precious time.
