Boundaries and Survey Maps Act

The President may appoint persons by name or office to carry this Act into effect.

Every person so appointed shall be a public servant within the meaning of the Penal Code [Cap. 224].

When any officer is appointed by the Government to make a survey of any land the Minister may invest the officer with all or any of the powers hereby conferred on Demarcation Officers, and also with power to cause any boundary or other marks to be erected by the owners of any land or to erect those marks, and to order the cost of that erection to be paid by such owners.

Government surveyors may enter upon any land in the execution of the duties of their office.

If any person who is ordered under the provisions of this Act to perform any act fails to perform the act within a reasonable time, the officer who gave the order may, after giving notice to that person of his intention to do so, cause the act to be performed.

The expenses incurred in such performance shall be payable by that person.

The Minister may make rules for —

All rules made under subsection (1) shall be published in the Gazette.

As soon as possible after the clearance of any line in accordance with a requisition under section 8, the Demarcation Officer shall assess the value of any trees, fences or standing crops, which have been cut down or damaged, and shall pay or tender to the owner thereof the amount of compensation which in his opinion should be allowed therefor.

If the owner is dissatisfied with the amount of compensation assessed by the Demarcation Officer, the matter shall be referred to a Collector of Land Revenue whose decision shall be final.

The Demarcation Officer may also issue a special notice, calling upon any person who he has reason to believe can give any information respecting the boundaries of any land to attend before him personally or by agent, and give such information on a date and at a place to be mentioned in the notice.

Every person on whom a notice referred to in subsection (1) is served shall be legally bound to attend as required by the notice, and to give all information relating to the boundaries of the land mentioned in the notice.

If any objection to a boundary so demarcated is made to the Demarcation Officer by a party concerned, the Demarcation Officer shall forward a report of the circumstances to the Land Office.

At any time before forwarding his report under subsection (1), the Demarcation Officer may for any sufficient reason to be stated in his report alter any boundary marked out by him.

As soon as the map of any district has been completed, a general notice shall be published informing all persons interested that the map is open to inspection at the Land Office, and at such place or places as are mentioned in the notice, and requiring any persons who have any objections to make to any boundary as laid down therein to forward to the Land Office a written statement of their objections within 3 months from the date of the publication of the notice.

Whenever there is reason to believe that any person interested is likely to object to any boundary as laid down in the map, a special notice shall be served on that person or his agent, requiring him to forward to the Land Office within that period of 3 months a written statement of his objections (if any).

Subject to such objections (if any) every boundary shown in the map shall after the expiration of that period of 3 months be deemed to have been finally ascertained.

When a period of 6 months from the date of the notice mentioned in section 14 has expired, if there is no suit then pending in the High Court for ascertaining the boundaries in respect of which objections are made, the objections shall be considered and inquired into by a Collector of Land Revenue, or other officer specially assigned for that purpose by the Minister (referred to in this Act as the Boundary Officer) who shall make such order as he thinks fit confirming or modifying the decision of the Demarcation Officer.

If any objection seems to him not to be well-founded, the Boundary Officer may direct that all expenses of the inquiry into the objection shall be paid by the person who made the objection.

For the purposes of this Act, the Boundary Officer and every Collector of Land Revenue shall have all the powers of a Demarcation Officer, and also power to require by a summons under his hand any person to attend before him, and if necessary to produce all documents in his possession or power relating to any right to or interest in any land which has been or is being demarcated under this Act.

The Boundary Officer may also examine upon oath or solemn affirmation any person so summoned touching the right to any such land or interest in that land.

Every person so summoned or examined shall be legally bound to attend as required by the summons, and to produce all the documents as mentioned in subsection (1), and to answer any lawful question put to him by the Boundary Officer.

All evidence taken before the Boundary Officer shall be taken down by him in writing, and shall when complete be read over and explained to the witness giving it, and the deposition shall thereupon be signed by the witness, or, in the case of his refusal, by the Boundary Officer.

If any such witness in his examination knowingly and wilfully states any matter or thing which is false, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to punishment under section 193 of the Penal Code [Cap. 224].

The depositions taken by the Boundary Officer upon any such inquiry, and any decision or order thereon, and his reasons therefor, shall be filed in the Land Office.

The file of the proceedings so made up shall be open at all reasonable times to the inspection of any person interested, or his duly authorised agent, who shall also be entitled to copies of the proceedings, or any part thereof, at the expense of the party applying.

Whenever an order determining a boundary has become final, a Collector of Land Revenue shall, unless permanent boundary-marks of a suitable description have already been erected along that boundary, cause to be erected permanent boundary-marks of such materials in such number and in such manner as he considers sufficient to distinguish the boundary.

An order determining a boundary becomes final for the purposes of this section when it is not open to appeal.

A Collector of Land Revenue may cause a notice to be served on any owner placing under his charge any boundary-marks erected on the boundaries of his land, whether erected under this Act or not.

Every owner shall preserve such boundary-marks as are placed under his charge under this section, and shall give immediate notice at the Land Office, or to the officer in charge of the nearest police station, if those marks are injured, destroyed or removed.

Any person who wilfully obliterates, removes or injures any survey-mark, or without reasonable excuse any boundary-mark which has been made or erected by or under the direction of any authorised officer of the Government, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction before a Magistrate’s Court to the punishment prescribed by section 434 of the Penal Code [Cap. 224], and may further be required by the Magistrate’s Court to pay 3 times the cost of repairing and replacing the boundary-mark or survey-mark, and of making any survey rendered necessary by the act for which the conviction was had.

The amount mentioned in subsection (1) shall be levied in the manner provided by the Criminal Procedure Code [Cap. 68] for the collection of fines.

If any person committing an offence under this section cannot be detected, the Collector of Land Revenue may give directions for the restoration or repair of any boundary-mark or survey-mark, and may order the cost thereof to be paid by the owners of the adjacent lands in such shares as appear to him proper.

No map published under this Act shall be corrected, altered or added to in respect of any boundaries of a holding therein laid down, except in the following cases:Incorrect survey(a)where it is found that a map does not correctly represent the boundaries of a holding, the Collector of Land Revenue shall inquire into the reason for the difference and, if it is found to be due to inaccuracy in the survey caused by error in measuring the angles or the sides of the holding or in plotting the survey, he shall give notice to the owners of the holdings affected, or their agents if they are known and are in Singapore, of the error and require them to forward to the Land Office within one month their objections (if any) to its correction; and if no objection is lodged at the Land Office within one month from the service of the notice, the Collector of Land Revenue shall make an order for the correction to be made. If any objection is lodged, the Collector of Land Revenue shall hold an inquiry under section 36 and make such order as he thinks fit;Joining up wrong boundary-marks or omission to notice a mark(b)where it appears that wrong boundary-marks have been joined up in the survey and delineation of a boundary shown on a map, or there has been an omission to take notice of a boundary-mark that was on the holding prior to 21st November 1884, or where it appears that there has been a change in the position of a boundary from that which it held at the time of the survey under Part II or III or at the time when it was delineated on the map under paragraph (c), the Collector of Land Revenue shall, after one month’s notice to the owners of the holdings affected, or their agents if they are known and are in Singapore, of his intention, proceed to hold an inquiry under section 36, which may be held in part upon the land; and if, after taking into consideration the evidence of the owners or their agents appearing at the inquiry and of such other persons as have knowledge of the subject, he is satisfied that the boundary as it appears from the then existing occupation of the holding is the true boundary, he shall make an order for the correction of the map;Assignment, etc., of parcels of State title, when duly demarcated, to be shown on map(c)where in the case of the assignment or demise of any land comprised wholly or partly in any State title in parcels or otherwise than the entirety thereof, the parcels have been properly demarcated and surveyed to the satisfaction of the Chief Surveyor or Deputy Chief Surveyor and the fees payable in respect of the demarcation and survey have been duly paid; the boundaries of the parcels or any subdivision thereof shall be delineated upon the representation of the holding or parcel of the holding on the map;Agreement between owners of land with conterminous boundaries(d)where any owners whose boundaries are conterminous agree to an alteration in their boundaries, the map may be altered by the order of the Collector of Land Revenue upon a deed being presented at the Registry of Deeds effectuating the alteration agreed to;Order of court(e)where in any suit an order of the High Court has been made which affects the position of the boundaries of any holding, the map may be altered upon an office copy of the order being served on the Collector of Land Revenue;Survey of subdivisions(f)where any holding delineated on the map has been subdivided into parcels and the parcels have not been surveyed to the satisfaction of the Chief Surveyor, he may proceed to make a survey of them and shall deliver a plan of the survey to a Collector of Land Revenue. The Collector of Land Revenue shall, after one month’s notice to the owners of the holdings affected, or their agents if they are known and are in Singapore, of his intention, proceed to hold an inquiry under section 36, which may be held in part upon the land; and if, after taking into consideration the evidence of the owners or their agents appearing at the inquiry and of such other persons as have knowledge of the facts, he is satisfied that the boundaries as shown on the plan are true boundaries, he shall make an order for the delineation of those boundaries on the map. If he is not satisfied that any boundary as shown on the plan is the true boundary, he shall forthwith proceed to fix and demarcate the boundary in the position which he considers to be the true position and shall make an order for the delineation upon the map of the boundary so fixed. For the purpose of making surveys under this paragraph the Chief Surveyor shall have all the powers conferred by sections 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 upon a Demarcation Officer.

Whenever it is found that the boundaries of a Mukim or Town Sub-division shown on any map published under this Act should be altered by reason of —

Notwithstanding subsection (2), any alteration of the boundaries of Mukims or Town Sub-divisions shown on any map published under this Act shall not be invalid by reason of it being made at any time before 1st September 1973 and any such alteration shall be deemed to have been made under subsection (2) as if that subsection had been in force at the time the alteration was made.

Every owner of a holding shall preserve the boundary-marks erected on the boundaries of his land, and shall give immediate notice at the Land Office or to the officer in charge of the nearest police station if any such marks are injured, destroyed or removed, whether they have or have not been placed under his charge by a Collector of Land Revenue.

Any owner who neglects to discharge the duty imposed upon him by this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $200.