Mutation of land

Mutation of land in Bangladesh

1. Mutation

2. 1.1 SUMMARY A man can establish his right over land in many different ways. It may be through, inheritance, a transfer like sale-purchase, will, mortgage, lease, exchange, auction, decrees of courts and settlement by the government. If there occurs any change of ownership or any transfer of land due to any reasons stated above the transferee or the heir is required to have his name recorded as owner through mutation to update the record.

3. 1.2 MUTATION In general sense, mutation means “a change or alteration in form or qualities”. But in the parlance of law it has a different meaning. In the parlance of law by the term “mutation” it generally means, insertion of the name of the new owner in the Khatiyan (record-of-rights). According to Black’s Law Dictionary the term ‘mutation’ is “especially applied to designate the change which takes place in the property of a thing in its transmission from one person to another. Mutation, therefore, happens when the owner of the thing sells, exchanges, or gives it.”

4. Continued….. Ad-interim change, amendment, correction and updating of land records are made through mutation. By mutaining a property, the new owner gets the land recorded on his name in the land revenue department and the government is able to change land tax from the rightful owner.

5. 1.3 DISTINCTION BETWEEN REGISTRATION & MUTATION Registration is the process of documentation to the records in any office either public or private. Registration of land is a full and final agreement signed between two parties. Once a land is registered will become the lawful owner of the property and is fully responsible for it in all aspects. Once the land is registered in sub-registrar office, the buyer of the land has to get the title of the land updated in his/her name in the local revenue office [Assistant Commissioner (Land) Office]. This is knowns as mutation. Thus, registration of land and mutation of land are two different things. Mutation of land happens after the registration of land.

6. 1.4 TYPES OF MUTATION Mutation is of two types, namely, mutation of agricultural land; and mutation of non-agricultural land.

7. Continued….. MUTATION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND Mutation of agricultural land is a must. Without mutation of the land, title will not pass to the new owner. MUTATION OF NON-AGRICULTURAL LAND In case of non-agricultural land, failure to mutate does not take away one’s right in the sale deed. That is even though the mutation has not done, the purchaser’s title will not be affected.

8. 1.5 GROUNDS FOR MUTATION APPLICATION Mutation and updating land records are required in the following cases: If the land owner dies and his/her successors want to update the records. [sec. 143 (a) of State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950 ] Leading Case: Idris Ali vs. State, 38 DLR 270 If the ownership of land is transferred through sale, gift, will, waqf, trust etc., by registered deed. [sec. 143(a) of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950 ] If a person becomes owner of a land by the decree of a land by the decree of a civil court.

9. Continued….. If the ownership of land is transferred through sale, gift, will, waqf, trust etc., by registered deed. [sec. 143(a) of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950 ] If a person becomes owner of a land by the decree of a land by the decree of a civil court. For abandonment or diluvion or acquisition of land. [Sec. 143 (d) of the SAT Act, 1950 ] If land ownership is dissolved for alluvion or under sections 90, 91, 92 and 93 of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950 .

10. Continued….. For pre-emption under section 96 (7) of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950 . Leading Case: Ganga Singh and Another vs. Santosh Kumar and Another (1961) For equitable/simple mortgage. Leading Case: Navin Singh and Another vs. State of Haryana and Others (2008) 149 PLR 59 For affidavit.

11. 1.6 IMPORTANCE OF MUTATION Through the mutation of land, a buyer is able to acquire the rights of the land. Considering the fact, Government amended the Registration Act, 1908 and the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 in 2004 with effect from July 1, 2005. Pursuant to the amendment of the both Act- Seller name must be included in the latest Khatiyan (record-of-rights) if he/she is the owner of the property by way of other than by inheritance; or The name of the seller or his/her predecessor must be included in the latest Khatiyan (record-of-rights), if he/she is owner of the property by inheritance.

12. Continued….. Failure in timely mutation terribly frustrates the assessment and collection of land revenue, transfer of land and fixation of title and possession, land use and settlement.

13. 1.7 LEGAL BASIS OF MUTATION

14. 1.8 CONCERNED AUTHORITY TO MUTATE LAND

15. 1.9 PROCESS OF MUTATION

16. PROCEDURE OF MUTATION ON ACCOUNT OF DEATH OF MALIK Section 143B of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950 provides for special procedure during mutation on account of death of malik . According to the section, after the death of the propositus, partition of immovable property takes place among the respective heirs. The instrument of partition shall have to be signed by all the concerned parties before it gets registration and thereafter the Revenue Officer revises the Khatiyan (record-of-rights) accordingly. A form of mutation is given in the next slide

17. 1.10 CONSEQUENCE OF MUTATION When a case of mutation is concluded with an order of inserting a name, a record-of-rights has to be opened in the prescribed manner the AC (Land) should duly sign the record-of-rights. Copies of the record-of-rights should be sent to the Tahsil Office, to the collector’s record room and a copy should be attached with the original volume of the record-of-rights. Record-of-rights prepared and finalized as a result of the mutation case should not overlap any ‘number’ of any existing record-of-rights on the contrary. At the same time a ‘ bata ’ number for the new record-of-rights should take the number.

18. Continued….. Where the new Khatiyan (record-of-rights) bearing numbers as 10/1 and 10/2 were applied, it is imperative to open separate holdings in the Demand Register (Register II). The Revenue Officer (AC Land) or the Field Kanungo should sign certificate in the remark column of the Register II.

19. 1.11 APPEAL AGAINST MUTATION ORDER According to section 147 appeal may be made from both, original order; and appellate order. An appeal can be made to the Collector if the order is made by the Revenue Officer/AC (Land); Commissioner of the division, if the order is made by the Collector; Board of Land Administration, if the order is made by the Commissioner of the division

20. Continued….. An appeal shall be made within, 30 (thirty) days if lies to the Collector; 60 (sixty) days if lies to the Commissioner of the Division; and 90 (ninety) days if lies to the Board of Land Administration

21. 1.12 REVISION AGAINST ORDER OF MUTATION An application of revision may be made against any order regarding mutation under section 149 of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950. According to section 149 of the Act, three authorities have the right to revision, the Collector; the Commissioner; and the Board of Land Administration. The Collector or the Commissioner may revise the order regarding mutation, on his own motion; or by the application made by any aggrieved person. But the Board of Land Administration shall revise such order only on his own motion.

22. Continued….. The Collector shall revise such order within one month of the date of such order. The Commissioner of Division shall revise such order within three months of the date of such order. The Board of Land Administration shall revise such order within six months of the date of such order. The Board of Land Administration may at any time order the correction of any entry in a record-of-rights prepared and finally published which, it is satisfied, has been made owing to a bona fide mistake.

23. Continued….. An order shall not be revised under section 149 if an appeal has been preferred against such order. No order for correction shall be made by the Board of Land Administration until reasonable notice has been given to the parties concerned to appeal and be heard in the matter.

24. 1.13 REVIEW AGAINST MUTATION ORDER Section 150 of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950, contains provisions for review. It authorizes a Revenue Officer to review any order passed by himself or by any of his predecessors in office. However, an application for review of an order shall not be entertained unless it is made within thirty days from the date of such order. Again, an order shall not be reviewed if an appeal has been preferred against such order or an application for revision of such order has been made to the superior Revenue Authority.

25. 1.14 MUTATION AND TITLE OF THE LAND Record-of-rights itself is not a document of title. It is an evidence of present possession [32 DLR 252]. Mere mutation and payment of rents do not confer any title on any person [ Shahani Bibi vs. Nur Islam 4 BLC 195]. However, when supported by other evidence, mutation would be a valuable evidence. Rent paid after mutation will also become piece of evidence. Rent receipts though not documents of title, are important items of evidence of possession.

26. 1.15 CONCLUSION Mutation is a very important process for the transfer of any property. Though it does not contain any conclusive evidentiary value, it does contain some evidentiary value with other documents of property. No the other hand without mutation the government will not be able to impose tax and other governmental fees from the real owner. So, whenever any person get the ownership of any property by any means, he must complete the process of mutation.

27. The end

28. Thank you