TITLE REGISTRATION AS A SOLUTION TO SECURE THE LAND TENURE IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

In the present day context of planning and development there is no doubt that the existing land policies are not strong enough to face the challenges of the new trends of the global economy. The prevailing land tenure system in most developing countries is still largely a mixture of statute law and customary law, resulting in a situation where ownership, land tenure and usage rights are ill defined and undocumented.  It is estimated that up to 90% of the land parcels in many developing countries have no documentary evidence of title. Registration of title will be giving a gilt-edge security to the tenure of the land. It removes the risk, and increase the marketability of land in a transaction. Sri Lanka also experiences the same as the other developing countries. At present Sri Lanka state dominated agricultural land accounts for 2.79 hectares of this land area of this 63% is owned by the state, but farmed by private farmers under varying tenure arrangements.  Non-allowance to mortgages of these non clear tenancy arrangements is a serious problem faced by the farmers in Sri Lanka. Apart from that, almost 19000 cases are found related to land ownership problems in Sri Lankan courts. In year 2000, it was found that 62% out of the total criminals were related to land ownership problems. Realizing the factors that inhibit the efficiency of the land market, the Sri Lanka government enacted title registration in to the legal system and applied the provisions in three major locations as a pilot programme. It is mainly expected from the program to issue a legally valid certificate for each land parcel in the country with a view to build the foundation for a long term land administration programme in Sri Lanka. There are many benefits that are expected from the programme. The objective of the study is to identify how far and to what extent this system can be used to secure the tenure in Sri Lanka. The data was collected through primary and secondary sources. To analyze this form the customers point, data was collected from fifty people through a questionnaire from Divulapitiya Divisional Secretariat division. The results indicate that 60% have been received the certificates and they strongly agree that the system increases the security of the tenure of lands.

Keywords: Developing Countries, Land Tenure, Land Title, Registration of Title

For full Paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac.lk