During the present quarter, a special land tribunal will start operating in Madagascar, according to the website L’Express Mada.

Disclosing the information, Hasimpierenena Rasolomampionona, Managing Director Land Services (DGSF), indicated that the entity’s institutionalization awaits only the implementation of the law related to land ownership and registration adopted by the Malagasy assembly on December 14, 2017.

According to Rasolomampionona, the new court will rule on cases involving missing land data or deteriorated documentation. Thus, it will receive applications for duplicates issuance to restore rights of landowners whose deeds and other documents of importance have been damaged.

Therefore, the new court will not handle actual land conflicts, as these would have already been taken care of by civil courts or remote courts.

Damaged deeds and land-related documents is a recurring problem in Madagascar, especially at the Antananarivo land registry district. Indeed, in this district, many documents date back from the colonial era in a country where archiving of administrative documents remains quite challenging. 

The new special land court will be composed of a magistrate presiding audiences, two domain inspectors, a municipality representative, the Fokontany chief and a clerk.