Lawyer tells of 5am ‘queue’ to carry out land transactions

 

The ‘Smartbox’ system of the Selangor Lands and Mines Department can register up to 300 transactions a day. (Land and Mines Department pic).

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor Bar Committee wants the state’s Lands and Mines Department to increase the daily quota of registering land dealing transactions, currently restricted due to the conditional movement control order (CMCO).

Its chairman V Murali said the department had raised the daily limit from 200 to 300 two days ago, but it was still grossly insufficient.

“We need a higher daily quota or no restriction at all in registering land dealing transactions as the state is a vibrant economic hub,” he told FMT.

He was commenting on the department’s “Smartbox” system which allows 300 daily transactions to be conducted at its headquarters in Shah Alam as only 30% of the staff were working in the office because of the CMCO.

The system was established during the MCO to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in March and was reintroduced when the CMCO was imposed recently.

A lawyer who spoke on condition of anonymity said legal firms would key in details of a specific land transaction via online and the system would generate a payment bill the next day.

However, due to the limited transactions allowed each day, many were unable to make payments even though lawyers and clerks woke as early as 5am to “queue”.

“This is because there are some firms which conduct more than one transaction,” the lawyer said, adding that the common dealing was related to entry of caveats, charges or transfers.

Lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali said another complaint by lawyers and the public was that the system did not help expedite transactions.

“When a land dealing application is keyed into the system, one does not know how long the process takes because a legal despatch clerk is not present and there is no proper follow-up,” he said.

He said that in land dealings, time was of the essence because parties were entering into a commercial agreement.

“The delay is not only a loss in revenue in the form of tax for the state government but a potential loss of profits for parties to land sale transactions,” he added.

Lawyer AG Kalidas said the department staff should be able to produce between 70% and 80% of work they performed while in office even though most of them were working from home.

“Please explain your work flow as the public have the right to know,” said Kalidas, who is also secretary of the Malaysian Bar.

He said it did not reflect well on the department when lawyers and clerks had to wake up early to make payments, and that a delay in registering transactions could also lead to agreements being terminated and deposit payments forfeited. - FMT