A new Registrar of Lands has reportedly been appointed but without an amendment to the law this is illegal and the Ministry of the Presidency has been unresponsive when the issue was raised, head of the Guyana Bar Associa-tion (GBA) Christopher Ram says.
“We have learnt that the Ministry of the Presidency appointed an attorney-at-law as Registrar of Lands without an amendment to the Land Registry Act. Regrettably, that continues the very unlawful action to which the Bar Association had drawn attention,” Ram wrote in a letter published in the Sunday Stabroek yesterday. Earlier this month, Attorney-General Basil Williams had told Stabroek News that efforts were underway to appoint a Registrar of the Land Registry.
Ram yesterday pointed out that the issue raised by Attorney-at-Law Leon Rockliffe in a letter in the August 15 edition of Stabroek News which was headlined ‘Government should urgently amend the Land Registry Act’ has been raised by the GBA and the legal profession on a number of occasions. He recalled that on May 22, Ronald Burch-Smith, the immediate past President of the GBA, wrote to President David Granger pointing to the state of dysfunctionality of the Registry and the unlawful appointment of the Registrar Juliet Sattaur.
The GBA head recalled that Burch-Smith pointed out that section 7 (1) of the Land Registry Act Cap 5:02 provides as follows: “There shall be a Registrar of Lands and a Deputy Registrar of Lands who shall be the persons for the time being holding the Offices of Registrar of Deeds and Deputy Registrar of Deeds respectively.”
He recounted that Burch-Smith added that Sattaur who was appointed by the previous administration as ‘Registrar of Lands’ was “neither the Registrar of Deeds nor the Deputy Registrar of Deeds and as such the appointment is in breach of the express and clear provisions of the Land Registry Act and is illegal.”
The GBA head said that while there was no direct response to Burch-Smith’s letter, Sattaur was sent on leave and Paula Ferdinand, Deputy Registrar of Deeds, was assigned to the Land Registry to carry out the statutory functions of the Land Registry. Ram said that for some unknown reason, Ferdinand was there very fleetingly, after which she returned to her substantive position.
“My understanding is that instructions then went out that no transfers or Certificates of Title were to be issued, effectively bringing the Registry to a halt,” he said.
He recounted that having received complaints and representations from attorneys, in his capacity as GBA President, he wrote Granger on the matter, registering concern “that the void now created has exacerbated rather than solved the problem.”
He said that he also took the opportunity to repeat the point made on numerous occasions by various persons including Rockliffe and Burch-Smith that until the Land Registry Act “is amended, the holders of the Offices of Registrar of Deeds and Deputy Registrar of Deeds should be assigned to undertake the duties and functions of the Registrar of Lands and a Deputy Registrar of Lands respectively.” “No response has been received from the Ministry of the Presidency to the two letters to President Granger,” he said while adding that they have learnt that the Ministry of the Presidency has appointed an attorney-at-law as Registrar of Lands without an amendment to the Land Registry Act and this is a continuation of the unlawful action.
Ram said that notwithstanding the reported appointment, it is his view that the proper and desirable course of action should have been that consultations should precede any decision to amend the law replacing the Registrar and the Deputy Registrar of Deeds, ex officio, as the Registrar of Lands and a Deputy Registrar of Lands respectively; that the Land Registry ought to return to the pre-2006 position whereby it fell under the Office of the Attorney General and the Minister of Legal Affairs; and that if it is decided that separate offices of Registrar and Deputy Registrar of Lands are to be created, the appointments should be made by the Public Service Commission, after the vacancies have been properly advertised.
Over the years members of the public and the legal fraternity have been complaining bitterly about the state of the Land Registry.
