The Demarcation of Boundaries Law (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 11, 2019)

The Demarcation of Boundaries Law (The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 11, 2019) The 5th Waning Day of Taboung, 1380 M. E. (25th March, 2019) The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw hereby enacts this Law. Chapter Ⅰ Title, Enforcement and Definitions 1. This Law shall be called the Demarcation of Boundaries Law. 2. This Law shall come into force on the date specified by the President of the Union by notification. 3. The following expressions in this Law shall have the meanings given below: (a) Boundary means a dividing line which marks the limits of an area within the State under this Law; (b) Survey-mark or Boundary-mark means any mark, brick pillar, concrete pillar, post or pipe erected or placed by the demarcation officer above or within the boundaries of any survey land for indicating survey points or lines, or any land marks placed by the Department of Agricultural land Management and Statistics or any other land surveying government departments or organizations; (c) Deed means any document which is written or described on any object in words, in numbers or with marks for the purpose of recording something. This expression also includes wills, court decrees and orders, agreements, bonds and any other documents; (d) Demarcation Officer means a person assigned to erect survey-marks or boundary-marks in demarcation of boundaries under this Law; (e) Boundary Officer means a person assigned to approve the boundary of the land demarcated under this Law; (f) Notice means information or a warning duly given to the public or the persons concerned; (g) Organization means government departments, government organizations, non-governmental organizations, companies or associations. 2 Chapter Ⅱ Objectives 4. The objectives of this Law are: (a) to survey, demarcate or re-demarcate the boundaries of fields (kwin) and blocks demarcated in accordance with the existing laws of the State, in the Union Territory, Regions or States, Self-Administered Division or Self Administered Zones, districts, townships, towns, wards, village-tracts and villages; (b) to maintain the survey-marks or boundary-marks not to be damaged, destroyed or altered; (c) to re-survey, re-demarcate an area where survey marks or boundary marks were erected or placed or to repair them if any damage to the survey-marks or boundary-marks occurs due to the climate, natural disasters or any other causes. Chapter Ⅲ Survey, Demarcation and Re-demarcation of Boundaries 5. The boundaries of Union Territory, Regions or States, Self-Administered Division or Self-Administered Zones and the boundaries of districts, townships, towns, wards, village-tracts and villages shall be the same as demarcated in the existing laws. 6. Survey, demarcation and re-demarcation of the following boundaries shall be carried out in accordance with this Law: (a) boundaries of townships, towns, wards, village-tracts and villages which have been already demarcated in accordance with the provisions contained in the Constitution; (b) boundaries of fields (kwin) or blocks within towns, wards or villages; and (c) boundaries of holdings or plots within the boundaries mentioned in sub section (b). 3 Chapter Ⅳ Appointment of Demarcation Officers and Boundary Officers and their Duties 7. (a) The President of the Union may appoint Demarcation Officers and Boundary Officers to re-demarcate the boundaries of villages, village tracts, wards, towns, townships or districts in the Union Territory, or to survey town or village lands of villages, village-tracts, wards or towns within the Union Territory if any cause arises to do so; (b) The President of the Union or any person assigned by him may, after complying with the provisions contained in the Constitution, appoint Demarcation Officers and Boundary Officers to undertake the field work if any of the following cause arises: (i) to re-demarcate the boundaries of any Region or State; (ii) to re-demarcate the boundaries of the villages, village-tracts, wards, towns, townships or districts in the relevant Region, State, Self-Administered Division or Self-Administered Zone, upon the recommendation of the Chief Minister of the relevant Region or State; (c) The President of the Union or any person assigned by him may appoint Demarcation Officers and Boundary Officers to survey village, village tract, ward, town, township or district lands within the relevant Region, State, Self-Administered Division or Self-Administered Zone, upon the recommendation of the Chief Minister of the relevant Region or State; (d) In appointing the officer under sub-section (a), (b), or (c): (i) the Head of the Department of the Township Agricultural Land Management and Statistics in the relevant township who has accomplished the survey training for officers or the advanced survey training, or the Head of the Civil Planning and Land Management Department in the municipal area of Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon City or Mandalay City shall be appointed as the Demarcation Officer; 4 (ii) the Township Administrator of the relevant Township Administration Department shall be appointed as the Boundary Officer. Duties and Powers of Demarcation Officers 8. The duties and powers of Demarcation Officers are as follows: (a) entering upon the specified land to make all enquires and do all other things necessary for demarcation of the boundaries of the said land; (b) calling upon any person or organization related to this purpose with the assistance of the administrator of the relevant ward or village tract if it is necessary to inspect the boundaries of the land or of the land adjoining the said land; (c) coordinating with the relevant ward or village tract administrator to take necessary assistance, to cut down and remove any trees, flowering plants, bushes, fences or standing crops along the boundary line or other line or to assign an appropriate person to undertake such work for demarcation of the boundaries of the land; (d) calculating the value of any trees, flowering plants, bushes, fences or standing crops which have been cut down or removed with respect to the clearance of the boundary line and submitting it to the Boundary Officer; (e) submitting the dispute with regard to the matters contained in sub section (d) to the Boundary Officer for decision; (f) directing the person concerned to submit records, evidence or deeds, if any, with respect to the boundaries of the land; (g) assigning the relevant ward or village tract administrator to serve a notice to the owner or occupier of or person interested in the land and the land adjoining to the said land or the person managing such land or the person or organization concerned with the management of such land, or to display a notice conspicuously at the place where the land is 5 to be demarcated and at the relevant ward or village tract administrator’s office; (h) coordinating with the relevant ward or village tract administrator to acquire necessary assistance from persons or organizations concerned in pointing out the boundaries, erecting and repairing survey-marks or boundary-marks of such land and demarcating boundaries on the date and time mentioned in the notice; (i) erecting survey-marks or boundary-marks on the land after demarcating the boundaries in coordination with the owner or occupier of the land; (j) reporting to the Boundary Officer about the land if the land cannot be demarcated as they cannot decide who owns or occupies the land; (k) submitting a report of his proceedings with his remarks to the person who assigned him through the Boundary Officer; (l) mentioning any adequate record and evidence for re-demarcating the boundaries in the report submitted under sub-section (k). Duties and Powers of Boundary Officers 9. The duties and powers of Boundary Officers are as follows: (a) coordinating with the relevant departments and organizations in undertaking the field work for re-demarcating the boundaries under clauses (i) and (ii) of sub-section (b) of section 7; (b) reporting to the Nay Pyi Taw Council or the relevant Region or State Government after approving the value submitted by the Demarcation Officer of any trees, flowering plants, bushes, fences or standing crops which have been cut down or removed along the boundary line or other line; (c) deciding on disputes with regard to matters contained in sub-section (b), and reporting un-decidable matters to the Nay Pyi Taw Council or the relevant Region or State Government; 6 (d) demarcating land as if it were in the possession of the occupier who lost it wrongfully if the boundary officer finds that any person acquired such land wrongfully from such occupier within 90 days before land inspection; (e) directing the relevant ward or village tract administrator to issue a notice to the public that the report sent by the Demarcation Officer is open to inspection and requiring any person who may have any objections to submit a written statement of such objections within 30 days from the date of such notice; (f) rejecting any objections received after 30 days and if necessary, reporting such objections to the Nay Pyi Taw Council or the relevant Region or State Government; (g) summoning witnesses to submit documents to acquire information regarding the specified land for insperction in exercise of the powers conferred by this Law and the powers of the Demarcation Officer; (h) coordinating with the occupier of the land in demarcating the boundaries when there is no reasonable ground to decide who is the occupier of the land according to the report of the Demarcation Officer or findings of the Boundary Officer; (i) reporting any disputes on the land to the Nay Pyi Taw Council or the relevant Region or State Government and obtaining its decision. Chapter V Erecting and Maintaining Boundary-Marks 10. The demarcation Officer shall direct the owner or occupier of the land to erect necessary survey-marks or boundary-marks along the boundary after demarcating it. 11. The demarcation process shall be final after erecting survey-marks or boundary-marks along the demarcator boundary. 12. The Boundary Officer shall assign the owner or occupier of the land to maintain survey-marks or boundary-marks erected along the boundary in accordance with the stipulations. 7 13. The relevant ward or village tract administrator, or the owner or occupier of the land is responsible for prevention of such survey-marks or boundary-marks from damage, loss or alteration. 14. If the ward or village tract administrator is aware that any boundary-mark or survey-mark has been removed, destroyed, damaged, lost, altered or is caused to be invisible, they shall report immediately to the Township Administrator. 15. The relevant township administrator shall assign the ward or village tract administrator to act on the report under section 14 in accordance with laws after undertaking field work. 16. If the boundary-marks or survey-marks are damaged, lost or required repairs due to weather, natural disaster or other causes, the owner or occupier of the land or the ward or village tract administrator shall report about it to the Township Administrator for repairing or re-erecting boundary-marks or survey-marks. 17. If the relevant township administrator is aware that any survey-mark or boundary-mark erected within the relevant boundaries under this Law is damaged, lost or required repairs, they shall decide who will incur the expenses of such restoration or repair. Chapter VI Prohibitions 18. No one shall obstruct, threaten or cause harm to any demarcation Officers while they are performing their duties under sub-section (a) or sub-section (b) of section 8. 19. No one shall obstruct, threaten or cause harm to any boundary Officers while they are performing their duties under sub-section (d) or sub-section (g) of section 9. 20. No one shall remove, move, destroy or alter any erected survey-mark or boundary-mark or cause any mark on it to be invisible. 8 Chapter VII Penalties 21. Whoever violates any prohibition contained in section 18 or section 19 shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or with a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand kyats or with both. 22. Whoever violates the prohibition contained in section 20 shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or with a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand kyats or with both. Chapter VIII Miscellaneous 23. Re-demarcation of the demarcated boundaries of land of each individual or organization within townships, wards and villages shall be undertaken with the permission of the relevant Land Management Department or the head of the civil service organization. 24. When a demarcation officer and boundary officer submit the matters contained in sub-sections (c), (f) and (i) of section 9 and section 10, the Nay Pyi Taw Council or the Region or State Government may assign any appropriate person or organization to undertake these matters. The owner or occupier of the land or person responsible for these matters shall incur expenses relating to such matter. 25. The relevant ward or village tract administrator shall collect expenses to be incurred by the owner or occupier of any land or the responsible person under section 24, as if it were an arrear of land revenue. 26. Offences contained in this Law shall be determined as cognizable offences. 27. In implementing the provisions of this Law: (a) The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation may issue rules, regulations and by-laws with the approval of the Union Government; (b) The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation may issue notifications, orders, directives and procedures. 9 28. The Boundaries Act (INDIA ACT V, 1880, Vol X) is repealed by this Law. I hereby sign under the Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Sd/ Win Myint President The Republic of the Union of Myanmar