Upgrading land administration
Only a
digitalised 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
crawling on to
say the most
Amirul Islam
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 countrys 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 land related various records.
Presently, such records are kept in primitive conditions by todays global standards.
Leaking roofs in ill maintained record rooms destroy hand written records of decades ago from wetting and dampening. 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 recently 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 land ownership are carried out at very long intervals but the final records are not made available promptly.
For example, the Dhaka City Survey from the land office was carried out more than a decade ago. Its results were published and circulated . But it was not being enforced on flimsy grounds ; its enforcement started only two years ago though this could be done years ago. So, why was this survey conducted anyway ?
Such situations 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 timely completion of survey and publication and enforcement of their results at the fastest. Only a digitalised 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 crawling on to say the most.
Government potentates say that they are very keen for digital Bangladesh, a pet slogan of the ones in power. But the greatest awaiting field to benefit directly from digitialisation is the land records keeping apparatuses. But the pace of digitalization here is shocking with few very limited or symbolic projects undertaken in recent years.
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 the country can only go on foot dragging in this vital area by paying a higher and higher price in different ways.
The writer is a contributor to The Independent
