COLOMBO (News 1st) – The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) recommended to the Secretary to the Ministry of Lands Chulananda Perera to update the Land Reforms Commission Act and carry out the necessary measures to restructure its operations.Accordingly, COPE recommended that a report be given within 6 weeks, based on the action taken in this regard.These recommendations were made when the Committee on Public Enterprises met in Parliament last (Oct.
21) under the chairmanship of Member of Parliament Prof. Ranjith Bandara to examine the Auditor General's report for the year 2020 and the current performance of the Land Reform Commission.The COPE committee gave several recommendations to the commission and it was decided that the Land Reform Commission be summoned before the COPE committee again within 3 months to look into the implementation of those recommendations.The COPE Committee observed the concerns in the transfer of land by the commission and thus the COPE chairman recommended that a report containing detailed information about the transfer of land in the last 20 years should be submitted to the COPE committee within a month.The COPE committee also recommended setting up a task force to identify and estimate the value of land and recommended that the secretary to the Ministry report to the COPE committee within two weeks the details of the responsibilities assigned to the task force.
The COPE Committee recommended the appointment of the Surveyor General or his representative as well as the Government Assessor or his representative for this task force.Furthermore, the COPE committee discussed about the "2018 project to distribute 10,000 plots of land" and Prof.