Jahangir Alam Government: In Bangladesh, 'Land Use Rights Act' and 'Land Offenses, Prevention and Remedies Act' are going to be enacted soon. The 7 types of documents that are going to be canceled in this new law are the main topics of discussion today. First, let's talk a little about unregistered documents.

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Generally, the documents which do not have a valid seal and signature of the sub-registrar officer, the government does not get any registry fee, these documents are going to be canceled under the new law. At the beginning of the discussion of the subject we need to gain a good understanding of the procedure of deed registration.

In special cases the deed must be registered. For example, the sale deed must be registered. Before purchasing the land, the earnest deed must be submitted for registration within 30 days. Deeds without registry have no legal value. The sale deed must be filed in the Sub-Registry Office within one year from the date of registration of the earnest deed. Deed of Heba or donated property should also be registered. Deed of mortgaged land should be registered. On the death of a landed property owner, the property left by him must be partitioned among his heirs and the partition or compromise partition registered.

According to the prevailing laws of Bangladesh, one of the requirements for land registration is full details of the land sold, names of the donor's parents in the deed, full address and a recent passport size color photograph. The person who sells the land must have a deed in his name without inheritance. The deed should contain a brief description of ownership for the past 25 years and who purchased the property from whom. The actual value of the property, boundary around the property, should be in the design document. There should be an affidavit stating that the land has not been sold to anyone other than the purchaser. The land papers should have CS, SA, RS continuity of ownership (who owned after whom) and should attach the via deed if necessary.

It is necessary to discuss a little about the fees fixed by the Registry Act and the Government as per the prevailing laws of the State of Bangladesh. Generally documents are registered in light of Registration Act, Stamp Act, Income Tax Act, Finance Act and Revenue Rules and Regulations. Not all documents have the same registry fee. The Government fixes the registry fee from time to time according to the contemporary considerations. There are also specific provisions for taxation. VAT and tax at source will always be paid by the seller of the land. According to the Income Tax Act, the amount of these two types of tax will depend on the income of the seller. This tax has to be deposited in the government treasury in the name of the seller. All taxes other than withholding tax and VAT have to be paid by the buyer of the land.

However, when the new land law is enacted, unregistered deeds are void. At the same time, creating fake certificates and documents will also be considered null and void. Many a times we find that the documents collected by sub-registry office, land office are burnt in fire. Then some opportunistic people in collaboration with the dishonest person of land office create fake certificates and documents to seize and enjoy the wealth of others. That document will not be effective. If someone creates a forged deed for the purpose of owning another's land, the forged deed will be cancelled. Many people are suffering from illegally occupying private land, such as char, river bank land. From now on these fake land documents will be cancelled. If you have purchased land from someone, but you have written more than the portion he gets, according to his inheritance formula, such a land deed will not be valid.

The Land Act (Draft) is a very important matter. Because, almost every person is connected with land. The D-Vidhi Act, 1860 also provides punishment for forgery of land documents. The proposed 'Prevention and Remediation of Land Crimes' Act has introduced new penal provisions. Imprisonment has also been kept in the draft law. New 'Prevention and Remediation of Land Crimes Act' has been drafted to prevent land fraud, illegal occupation, fraud and crime suppression, muscle power or arms. In addition to the provisions of punishment for various crimes related to land in the existing law, the draft law has also added punishment provisions. The draft law introduced mobile courts headed by executive magistrates in matters over which civil courts have jurisdiction.

We have to remember that there are some types of deeds, which are not deeds of transfer of property. An example can be mentioned - Deed of Deed, Power of Attorney (Power of Attorney) Deed, Will Deed, Probate Deed, Contract Deed, Cancellation Deed at Registry Office - The parties to the respective deed can be canceled by executing the deed together with the consent of all through the Registry. Various deeds of transfer of property such as sub-deeds, deeds of donation, deed of deed, deed of declaration, deed of deed of deed etc. cannot be canceled by registering 'cancellation deed' in the registry office. If it is necessary to cancel the document due to legal and logical reasons, the cancellation initiative has to be taken by filing a case in the court.

If the law is enacted, the documents depriving the heirs as per the new law are going to be considered null and void. If someone buys the land after selling the property depriving the heirs, the deed of the purchased land will not be effective. Documents obtained through fraud cannot be excluded. The deed will not be valid if the deed is made by misrepresentation, fraud. According to the new law, in addition to the cancellation of the document, the owner of the canceled document has been brought under the law for committing a criminal offence. Punishment includes imprisonment from 3 months to 5 years - and fine from 10 thousand to 10 lakh rupees.

Author: Lawyer and PhD Researcher, Jahangirnagar University