Apartment Ownership Act

The growing population and the scarcity of the land in urban areas have give rise to the construction of multi storied apartment buildings. Hence it was essential to formulate a device to transfer the ownership of these units to the purchasers. As the common law provision of the country did not address such circumstance, it was essential to enact legislation for this purpose. . Accordingly Sri Lanka to enacted in 1973 the apartment ownership law which was subsequently amended by Act No. 45 of 1982, 4 of 1999 and 39 of 2003. It must be noted that the Condominium property Act has been abolished by now and a provision of Apartment ownership act is enacted by now.

Originally the Act made provision only for transfer of completed condominium units. In practice most of the developers enter into sales agreements for in respect of units partly constructed or proposed to be constructed and such units to be transferred subsequently once the condominium plan has been duly registered. As the registration is a time consuming process this Act provides for registration of plans relating to provision of condominium property and semi condominium property. Further it refers to three types of condominium property namely:

· Condominium Property:Any building erected on alienated land held as one land parcel and capable of being subdivided into parcels.

· Provisional Condominium Property: Any building erected on alienated land held as one land parcel and capable of being subdivided into parcels.

· Semi Condominium Property: Any building on alienated land held as one land parcel, on which there are more than one completed condominium parcels fit for human habitation.

In this Act the “Land parcel” is defined as “land parcel of any tenure, any building or parts thereof, so much of the air-space above the surface as may be reasonably used or enjoyed by any owner, and all substances, under the surface, (excluding minerals within the meaning of the Mines and Minerals Law, No. 4 of 1973) whether or not held apart from the surface and any estate or interest therein”

The application for registration of a Condominium Planshall be made in triplicate in the prescribed form as per the Act. The original and the duplicate shall be sent to the Registrar and the triplicate be sent to the General Manager of the Condominium Management. The particulars to be accompanied are fully illustrated in the Act. Furthermore the Act illustrates the particulars and procedures to be followed in the following situations:

· Provision relating to the application for registration of a Condominium Plan.

· Application to register a Provisional Condominium Plan

· Application to register a Semi Condominium Plan

· Inclusions of a Condominium Plan, Semi Condominium Plan , Provisional Condominium Plan

· Registration of any plan of any amendment of the registered Condominium Plan or the registered Semi Condominium Plan

Provision is made in respect of statutorily implied certain servitudes in respect of each land parcel and also provides that the owners of all the parcels may by unanimous resolution at a meeting convened by the management corporation direct the corporation to execute on their behalf a grant of servitudes or a restrictive covenant or to accept on their behalf a grant of a servitude or a restrictive covenant.

Fauna and flora protection (amendment) Act, no. 22 of 2009

This is an Act to amend the Fauna and Flora Ordinance in 1937.Fauna and flora protection (amendment) Act, no. 22 of 2009 make provisions for the establishment of natural resources, sanctuaries and related matters. In general this provides for the protection and conservation of the fauna and flora of Sri Lanka and their habitats, for the prevention of commercial and other misuse of such fauna and flora and their habitats, for the conservation of the biodiversity of Sri Lanka. Accordingly areas of National Reserves may be classified as Strict Natural Reserves, National Parks, Nature Reserves, Jungle Corridors, or Intermediate Zones. Henceforth no one is allowed to enter any natural reserve and disturb fauna and flora in any circumstance. This is further illustrates by saying that no person shall within the boundary of one mile is allowed to construct a tourist hotel or any type of service facility similar to the services provided by the tourist hotels. Further it says that land other than National Reserves may be declared Sanctuary. Furthermore it classifies the essential features of classes of Natural Reserves. It clearly declares that no person or organization whether private or state shall within a distance of one mile of boundary of any National Reserve carry out any development activity of any description whatsoever without obtaining the prior written approval of the Director. Further every development shall be followed by an environmental impact Assessment. Section 4 to 11 of this Act regulates entry, hunting, construction etc of these areas. Any person who contravenes the above provision shall be liable for a fine not less that thirty thousand and not more than fifty thousand rupees or imprisonment of not less than two years but not exceeding five years. Not only that the following sections illustrates on certain matters as follows:

· Part II (sects. 12 to 29) regulates hunting for big game outside of National Reserves and Sanctuaries, and the possession, registration and exportation of elephants. These sections cover all the possible actions which are to be considered as a threat to the protection of fauna.

· Part III (sects. 31 to 41) regulate the hunting, importing exporting etc. of including birds and reptiles

· Part IV (sects. 42 to 48) concerns the protection of flora. This section defines “plant” as a member of the plant kingdom

· Part V (sects. 49 to 55) contains miscellaneous provisions relative to hunting and wildlife products.

· . Part VI (sects. 56 to 75) provides in general for licenses, for an advisory committee for purposes of advising the Director, prescribes offences and penalties, and contains interpretations and saving.

Each part is also provided with its own interpretation section.

Mines and Minerals Act No 33 of 1992

This Act provides for the establishment of the Geological Survey and Mines bureau and defines its internal organization. According to the provisions the powers and functions of the Bureau include:

· Collecting, exploring, promoting and analyzing the country's mineral resources

· Regulating the exploration and mining for minerals and the processing

· Trading in and export of such minerals by the issue of licenses

· Advising the Minister on measures to be adopted for the promotion of the extraction and production of minerals.

The Act further provides for the Funding of the Bureau, ownership of minerals, restrictions on the issue of licenses to explore for mine, transport, process, trade in or export any minerals, closed reserved areas, rights and obligation of license holders, health, safety and welfare of mine workers and offences and penalties etc. The Act consists of main four parts which are namely:

1. Establishment, powers and functions of the geological survey and mines bureau

2. Ownership of minerals and issue of licences

3. .Health, safety and welfare of workers in mines

4. General

Part I- Establishment, powers and functions of the geological survey and mines bureau

This basically identifies the establishment of the bureau. Other that that the appointment of the required personnel, their duties and provisions regarding the appointment and dismissal, qualification required , procedure of meetings authority and power remuneration etc. The bureau consists of a Board of Management comprising of three specialists in geological surveying and mining, one for in charge of Finance whereas all four appointed by the Minister. The Director of Geological Survey and Mines shall be the principal technical officer and be appointed as per theprovisions of the Act and responsible for the conduct of geological surveys, and the administration of this Act. The Chairman is appointed by the Minister. The Board may delegate to the Chairman, Director or an employee of theBureau any or all of the powers, duties and functions imposed onor assigned to, the Bureau by this Act.

The functions of the Bureau shall be-

· To undertake the systematic geological mapping of Sri Lanka and thepreparation of geological survey

· To identify and assess the mineral resources of Sri Lanka

· To evaluate the commercial viability of mining for, processing and export of such minerals

· To regulate the exploration and mining for minerals and the processing trading in and export of such minerals, by the issue of licenses;

· To advise the Minister on measures to be adopted for the promotion of the

extraction and production of minerals, on a commercial basis.

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Part II-ownership of minerals and issue of licenses

A license to mine for any mineral issued under this Act, shall entitle the licensee to the exclusive right to mine for all minerals in the area specified in such license and to trade in and export such minerals.No person shall explore for, mine, transport, process, trade in or export anyminerals except under the authority of, or otherwise than in accordance with, alicense issued in that behalf under the provisions of this Act. Further there are stated areas which prohibits from mining. Hence those areas are highlighted in these provisions.The holder of a license issued under this Act shall maintain such books, records and other documents in relation to the activities authorized by his license. The holder of a license issued under this Act shall have the right to enter and possess any area of land specified in such licenseprovided that where the owner of any such area of land is in possession of such area of land, the holder of the license shall not exercise the rights conferred on him by this section except with the consent of such owner.

Part III -Health, safety and welfare of workers in mines

There are certain regulations which are to be followed. No female, irrespective of age, shall work or be engaged or permitted to workunderground at any time in any mine.No young person who has not completed the age of sixteen years shall work or be engaged or permitted to work underground in any mine. Likewise all the health, safety and welfare of workers in mines are provided in detail.

LAND ACQUISITION ACT, No. 09 OF 1950

This is an Act to make provision for the acquisition of lands and servitudes for public purposes and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to such provision. The Act establishes the procedure to be followed by the competent authorities for the acquisition of land for public purpose. This Act can be discussed in six parts as follows:

· Part I-Preliminary Investigation And Declaration Of Intended Acquisition

This part of Land Acquisition Act describes about investigations for selecting land to be carried out by a district officer appointed by the Minister, issue of notice of intended acquisition indicating the compensation to be paid for any damage caused during investigations, Issue of notice of acquisition of land or servitude for a public purpose.

· Part II- Inquiry Into Claims, Reference To Court, And Acquiring Officer's Award

This part illustrate about the Inquiry into claims for compensation, Reference of claims and court disputes for determination, Form of reference to court., Proceedings in court on reference, Costs of proceedings in court on reference, Appeal against decision of court, Non-appearance of persons interested in land, Claims made out of time, Award of acquiring officer, Acquiring officer may supply failures or omissions in the course of acquisition proceedings.

· Part III-Appeals To The Board Of Review And Appeals To The Court Of Appeal On Questions Of Law

This part of the above Act depicts about the Constitution of the board of review, Right of appeal to the board, Time-limit for appeals to the board Decision of the board, Costs of proceedings before the board, Finality of decision of the board, Appeal on question of law to the Court of Appeal etc.

· Part IV-Payment

This part consists with the provisions made for all the matters related to tender and payment of compensation.

· Part V-Possession And Disposal

Order for taking possession of a land, or subjecting a land to a servitude, Immediate possession of certain lands acquired for the purposes of local authorities, Revocation of vesting orders, Access to un acquired portion of land, Vesting of land in local authority or other body are described with in this section in detail.

· Part VI- Assessment Of Compensation

Matters related to assessment of compensation such as market Value, Improvements made by State to be ignored in determining compensation for acquisition of land, Deduction etc. are illustrate with in this section.

· Part VII-General

General provisions regard inter alia the compulsory acquisition of land authorized by any other written law, the acquisition of land by a public corporation, abandonment of acquisition proceedings, power of the Chief Valuer and his agents, false evidence, etc. are describe with in this part.