Only 30% of the land of the people are clear of land disputes

(July 20, 2010) Sri Lanka Minister of Land and Land Development Janaka Bandara Thennakoon says that the government expects to amend the act of registration of land rights so as the land disputes can be resolved fast.

Participating in an interview with the state-owned Sinhala daily The Silumina newspaper recently, the Minister pointed out that mere 30% of the land of the people are clear of land disputes.

The Minister also said that a land tribunal will be set up soon to resolve the land disputes in a short period of time.

Presently, the judicial procedures basically in district courts to resolve land disputes take long times and people face severe hardship due to them.

The Minister explained that under the ‘Bim Saviya’ programme, the data on the people’s land is gathered. The work is now underway in 50 divisional secretariats and will be completed in all 320 divisional secretariats by 2015.

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Posted in Janaka Bandara Thennakoon , land , Minister of Land and Land Development

Sri Lanka government to set up a land tribunal

(July 09, 2010) Sri Lanka Minister of Land and Land Development Janaka Bandara Thennakoon says that the government has decided to set up a land tribunal to settle the land disputes.

The aim of this tribunal is to solve the land disputes quickly, the Minister said.

According to him, only 5% of Sri Lanka’s land is free from disputes.

The land disputes take long times to be settled through the normal judiciary proceedings in Sri Lanka. There are many land cases that have taken entire life times of the parties to be solved. This cause immense trouble to land owners and also prevent productive use of these lands

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Posted in Janaka Bandara Thennakoon , land , land tribunal

No licences for encrachers of state land in Sri Lanka

(October 30, 2009) Sri Lanka Ministry of Land and Land Development has decided to suspend the issue of licenses for the persons who have illegally settled in state land after 1995.

The Minister of Land and Land Development Jeevan Kumarathunga says that the step was taken to discourage encroachment of state land by people.

Encroaching has several dimensions and the low income group people settle in state land due to poverty while the politically backed affluent persons encroach valuable state land for business purposes. Clearing state forests for cultivation also takes place in mass scale and this has also generated issues such as man-elephant conflicts.

However, the worst kind of encroachment takes place with the support of the government politicians and the affluent encroaches obtain the licenses easily and own the land for generations if not for forever.

The Minister of Land and Land Development points out that the state is now in short of prime land for development in Colombo and suburbs due to this illegal encroachments. 

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Posted in encroach , land , land grabbing , Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's Eastern Province land asked for businesses

(September 03, 2009) Eastern Province Land Commissioner  H.M. Yasaratne says that a Colombo based Company had asked for 400 acres in the Padiyatalawa area of the Ampara district for maize cultivation. Thirty four more individuals and companies have also sent applications to him asking for lands in Kuchchaveli which lies north of Trincomalee for investments in the tourism industry.

With the end of the war in the island, a heavy demand for crown lands in the Eastern Province for investment purposes has been seen, particularly in tourism and agriculture, according to Provincial Land Commissioner  H.M. Yasaratne.

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Posted in Central bank of Sri Lanka , Eastern Province , land