NACC proposes abrogation of all Sor Kor 1 primary land-holding documents
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) is urging the government to abolish all Sor Kor 1 primary land-holding documents as a strong measure to prevent corruption among land officials.
The proposal was made in an article published on the NACC website on Monday, saying that corruption related to the use of state-owned land and unscrupulous land officials seems to have worsened in recent years.
The article said that abrogating all Sor Kor 1 documents in one go by setting a deadline for holders of Sor Kor 1 documents to seek an upgrade on their deeds will be an effective way of preventing such corruption.
The article said that if Sor Kor 1 documents can be updated at any time, then wealthy people can easily bribe unscrupulous land officials to do the job and give them ownership of forested land or state land on mountains or beaches.
The Land Department, meanwhile, explained that Sor Kor 1 documents only inform the department that certain plots of land are being occupied. It said that the Sor Kor 1 documents do not certify ownership, but can be gradually upgraded into land deeds through several steps.
However, the article said that with no more Sor Kor 1 documents being used, land officials cannot abuse the system.
The article also proposed applying tax measures to see if the owners of large plots are properly using their land.
The NACC proposed that the government set up measures to protect honest land officials as they may get persecuted by corrupt colleagues and harassed by tycoons.
The article also proposed that the government employ new technologies to crosscheck the collection of fees by park officials, as currently there is no way of checking whether fees collected at certain parks are being siphoned or not.
