To protect the public and the integrity of the cadastre BOSSI continues to prosecute unregistered surveyors for performing land or mining surveys.
In September 2018, BOSSI was unsuccessful in prosecuting an unregistered surveyor for preparing a land survey that identified (showed) the property boundaries on a plan provided to a client.
The defendants made an application on the basis of whether a prim a facie case had been established on the basis of two items, one related to the information provided in an email from the defendant setting out that they had not done the survey and that it had been done by “another person” and further that the “other person” was not a registered surveyor. Further submissions were made that there was no evidence of any fee or reward being received by the defendants, other than the indication on the plan that the “other person” was the client.
The barrister on behalf of the Board, directed the attention of the Magistrate to the item shown on the plan and that the “other person” was disclosed as being the client.
The Magistrate indicated that the evidence provided to that point of time must be considered on the basis of is it capable of satisfying every element for the test under prima facie requirements and in the absence of evidence regarding the “other person”, that a prima facie case had not be made out.
The Magistrate proceeded to set out at length his view of the evidence which is instructive in relation to his interpretation of sections 21 and 22A of the Surveying and Spatial information Act 2002 and came to the conclusion that costs should not be awarded against the prosecution
BOSSI has published the document ‘What is a land survey’ on its website to provide a uniform understanding of the definition of a land survey to the public, surveyors and allied professions.
Registered Surveyors are reminded that they must comply with the BOSSI determinations on General and Immediate Supervision – failure to comply could result in a finding of professional incompetence &/or professional misconduct under the Act.
