State Lands Amendment Act, Best Interest for Fijians: A-G
The Bill was passed by Parliament yesterday and enacted as law. A-G: We provide growth, stability, decisive leadership...
Amending Section 16 of the State Lands Act of 1945 is an empathetic move by the government to regularise leases for state land that were sold without proper leases by the head leaseholders. The Bill was passed by Parliament yesterday and enacted as law.
During his right of reply, AttorneyGeneral Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the amendment was for the best interest of Fijian citizens and was confined to state lands where leases were issued and the head lease holder had migrated, died, or sold the land leaving occupants with no proper title.
He said in the past 40-100 years there were no disputes or claims with the pieces of land in question that were handled by the Director of Lands.
“We have a long term prospective on growth. We provide growth, stability, decisive leadership which is what this government is all about,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said, adding that once the Bill was passed from a legal perspective the Director could cancel the head lease and re-enter into issuing proper leases to current occupants.
He said for many years the government had made all attempts to resolve the issue and work within the framework but was faced with a legal brick wall that it could not avoid or work around.
Responding to the Opposition, he said questions needed to be asked regarding 91 per cent of all iTaukei land which were iTaukei native titles and the fact that nearly 99 per cent of all hotels in Fiji were built on iTaukei land.