The government will establish Land Tribunals in all districts to solve prevalent land disputes.  The Legal Draftman’s Department is presently drafting legislation relating to the establishment of these Tribunals. Once the Bill is approved by Parliament expeditious steps will be taken to establish these Tribunals. Currently land disputes are taken up at District Civil Courts set up island wide.

Land disputes are the major problem affecting the people in the
country. Among the litigations that are in the courts in the country
majority of them are related to civil cases with regard to  land
disputes. According to statistics majority of such civil cases heard
in the courts of first instances are reported from the southern part
of the country.

 Minister of Land and Land Development Mr. Janaka Bandara Tennekoon
addressing a media conference held at the auditorium of the Department
of Information said that the USAID has expressed willingness to
provide assistance for the establishment of these tribunals. The
process of hearing cases through Tribunals instead of official
Judiciary is less cost and time consuming.

The Minister also said that the Survey Department of Sri Lanka has
completed carrying out Binsaviya surveys in many parts of the island
and very soon the Department will have complete of lands in the
country.  It was also disclosed at this media conference, in which the
Secretary to the Ministry, the Surveyor General, and many officials
from the Survey Department attended, that the GPS system introduced by
the Survey Department helped in the location of terrorist movements
during the operation against the terrorists carried by the security
forces.(niz)