President of the Bar, Ambiga hands over the memorandum to Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid. |
PUTRAJAYA, Tues: The President of the Malaysian Bar, Ambiga Sreenevasan, accompanied by Roger Tan, Chairman of the Conveyancing Practice Committee, Bernard Kok, member of the Conveyancing Practice Committee and the Sub–Committee appointed by the Bar Council to study the issue of fraudulent land transactions and Rohani Adnan, Executive Officer of the Bar Council’s Conveyancing Practice Department today presented a Memorandum titled Prevention and Protection against Fraudulent Land Transactions, to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Datuk Seri Hj. Azmi bin Khalid at a meeting with the Minister in his office here at Wisma Sumber Asli.
Also present at the meeting were officials from the relevant Departments under the said Ministry including the Director–General of Lands and Mines, Datuk Zoal Azha Bin Yusof and the Ministry's legal officers.
While the Ministry is the secretariat to the National Land Council, the Bar Council also agreed to submit a copy of the memorandum to the Attorney General.
In the meeting, Ambiga voiced the Council’s concern for registered landowners who had lost their lands in various fraudulent land transactions and for whom there was no compensation whatsoever.
In its Memorandum, the Bar Council proposed amendments to section 340 (3) and (4) and section 187B of the National Land Code. The Council also proposed that the Government look into the possibility of setting up an assurance fund to compensate aggrieved land owners and bona fide purchasers similar to that practised in some other jurisdictions.
Datuk Seri Azmi was very receptive to the proposal from the Bar Council. The Minister also proposed that the Heads of the relevant Departments from his Ministry have regular dialogues with representatives from the Bar Council in an effort to address the problems faced with the Land Registries/Offices with a view to improving the system.
Datuk Seri Azmi also mentioned that the Government was in the process of implementing the “e–tanah” pilot project. He added that this was a sincere approach from both sides to attempt to address problems in relation to the land administration system. What is important, he said, is that the public must have faith in the system.
Ambiga, in turn, expressed the Bar Council’s willingness to assist in any manner possible including in providing legal training to officers and staff of the relevant Departments and various land offices.
As regards the Strata Titles Board, the Bar’s representatives were also informed that the Minister is in the midst of appointing members to the Board.
The Bar's representatives with Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid