Pomona Village Land Reservation Regulations

CHAPTER 191 POMONA VILLAGE LAND RESERVATION REGULATIONS ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS 1. Short title. 2. Plan of reserved land. 3. Occupation of land in reserve. 4. Payment of fees. 5. Refusal and withdrawal of permission. 6. Disputes. 7. Boundaries. 8. One plot only. 9. Government reserved powers. 10. Withdrawal of permission. 11. Preservation of rights. 12. Completing agreements, etc. CHAPTER 191 POMONA VILLAGE LAND RESERVATION REGULATIONS (Sections 23 and 39(2)) 1. These Regulations may be cited as the Pomona Village Land Reservation Regulations. 2. The land reserved for occupation shall be shown coloured red on a plan in the office of the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys; and a copy of such plan shall be kept in the Court House or other suitable place at Dangriga and shall be open to inspection at any time during ordinary business hours. 3. So long as sufficient land is available any person who is cultivating land in the vicinity and who wishes to occupy a plot of land in the Reserve may do so and may build his house thereon, by the written permission of the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys, and on payment of an occupancy fee of $1.00 for every year or part of a year of his occupation. Each year shall be deemed to end on the 31st December thereof. The written permit shall be produced by the occupier, on demand, for the inspection of any officer of the Lands and Surveys Department or the Agricultural Department or of any police officer. 4. Occupancy fees shall be payable on the 2nd January of each year to the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys and shall be recoverable in accordance with the provisions of any law in force governing the collection of Crown rents. Any occupier who fails to pay his fee on or before the appointed day may be dealt with in accordance with rule 5 of these Rules. On dates which will he notified an officer will attend at some place within the Reserve for the purpose of collecting the fees for which receipts on official forms will be given. Occupancy fees may, however, be paid to the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys at any time of the year before the visit of the collecting officer. 5. The Commissioner of Lands and Surveys shall have power to refuse to permit any person to occupy a plot of land in the Reserve, and may, subject to the provisions of rule 10 of these Rules, withdraw any permission which may be given. If any person, after such refusal or withdrawal, persists in occupying a plot of land, he may be prosecuted for unlawful occupation in accordance with sections 31 of the National Lands Act: Provided, however, that any person who may have erected any house, building or fixture on any plot of land in the Reserve shall, upon revocation of his licence, be allowed a period of thirty days within which to remove the same. 6. Any dispute between occupiers as to the boundaries of their holdings shall be decided by the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys or by an officer appointed by him for the purpose, whose decision shall be final and binding on the disputants. 7. The boundaries of the Reserve and of the house plots shall be marked on the ground by the Lands and Surveys Department. The Reserve boundaries shall be kept open at all times by the occupiers of the Reserve as a whole, and the boundaries of each plot shall be kept open by the occupiers thereof. 8. No person shall be allowed to occupy more than one plot of land and that only for the purpose of building a house and making a garden. 9. The Government reserves the right to sell, lease, grant licences over or in any other way deal with any national land within the Reserve which is not occupied at the time when such right is exercised. No compensation shall be payable to any person in respect of the exercise of this right. 10. The Commissioner of Lands and Surveys may without being liable for any compensation whatsoever withdraw any permission that may have been granted to any person to occupy a plot of land within the Reserve if such person (a) fails to pay the prescribed occupancy fee on or before the 2nd January; (b) fails to enter into possession of the plot of land allotted to him and to build his house thereon within three months of the issue of the prescribed permit; (c) fails to keep the plot of land allotted to him in a clean and sanitary condition to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer; (d) fails to build and maintain an approved type of pit latrine to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer; (e) interferes in any manner with any national land within or without the Reserve other than land allotted to him, or refuses to accept any decision made in accordance with rule 6 or these Rules; (f) is convicted in a court of law of any offence involving fraud or dishonesty, or whose conduct is, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys, detrimental to the peace, good order or welfare of the Reserve; (g) fails to comply with such instructions or rules as may be issued from time to time for the good management of the Reserve; (h) fails, on demand, to produce his written permit; (i) without the written permission of the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys, assigns, transfers or otherwise deals with any right or interest under this permit. 11. Any grantee, lessee or licensee of the Government of Belize who may be entitled to occupy any national land in the Reserve at the date when these Rules shall come into force shall, subject to the observance of the conditions herein stipulated, be permitted to continue in occupation of such land. 12. The Government reserves the right to complete, by the issue of a fiat or otherwise, any purchase, lease or licence made or agreed to be made before the coming into force of these Rules in respect of any national land comprised in the Reserve, and may at any time thereafter renew or extend the period of any such lease or licence on the same terms as the old lease or licence, or on new terms. No compensation shall be payable to any person in respect of the exercise of this right.