Amendment to law to allow orphaned grandchildren to receive land from inheritance

An amendment to the Land Act has been proposed to change the current regulation that prevents orphaned grandchildren from receiving state-owned land from an inheritance.

The first reading of the amendment, submitted by the Member of Parliament for North Galolhu, Mohamed Ibrahim (Kudu), has been scheduled for tomorrow’s sitting of the Parliament.

The amendment proposed to Article 15 of the Land Act states that upon the death of a person who was granted a state-owned land plot, the buildings and immovable property on that plot must be distributed among the legal heirs and the orphaned grandchildren who lack adequate housing.

According to the bill, a person is considered to have adequate housing if they have a land plot or flat registered in their name through purchase, sale, gift, will, or inheritance, or if they have received a plot or flat through a government housing project.

The current provision in the law states that if a person who was granted a state-owned land plot dies, the buildings and immovable property on that plot may be divided among those who receive it through the rules of inheritance. As such, there is currently no provision in the law for orphaned grandchildren to receive state-owned land from an inheritance.

Under Islamic Shariah, grandchildren are generally excluded from inheritance if their parents predeceased the grandparent, and courts currently follow this principle in the distribution of inheritance.

The amendment defines "orphaned children" as the children of a son or daughter who would have inherited from the deceased had they been alive, but because they passed away before the deceased, neither they nor their children receive a share of the inheritance.