The purpose of this article is to provide a complete guide on Power of Attorney laws in Bangladesh, in particular, and explain the important points to keep in mind while creating a Attorney.

Definition:

A attorney is a legal document that allows a person to legally authorize another person to act on their behalf. The POA gives a person (ie, called a power receiver) the legal authority to make legal decisions on behalf of the power grantor.

Use and Type: Basically, this document is designed for people residing outside Bangladesh who want to deal with legally secured assets through agents or attorneys. A foreign attorney in Bangladesh works in most ways like a regular power of attorney but must follow a different set of procedures and protocols.

Power of attorney can be divided into two types, namely, general attorney and special power of attorney.

A simple power of attorney gives broad authorization to the agent as well as gives an agent virtually unfettered decision-making power, everything from paying taxes to entering into contracts, managing operations to making legal choices to settling claims to buying a new property.

Creating a Special Power of Attorney A special power of attorney is created to allow the grantor to make a decision on a specific matter such as collecting rent for a specific property or giving power to a business partner to use a specific property.
It is an irrevocable attorney when the grantor waives the right to revoke it. A power of attorney refers to a power of attorney relating to the sale, purchase, mortgage or transfer of immovable property.

A foreigner can choose any type of attorney based on the circumstances
Procedure for Preparing Attorney:

Some important conditions need to be followed while making Power of Attorney:

• · The type of power of attorney must be mentioned in the title of the document.
• · The date of execution must be mentioned in the power of deed.

The deed must state the identity of the parties, particularly their names, professions, religion, nationality, NID/passport numbers and their current and permanent addresses.

Objectives should be written clearly and specifically.

Powers, responsibilities and duties should be detailed

· The POA document type must specify special, general or irrevocable powers

If the power is conditional, the conditions should be defined. Schedule: The deed must refer to the schedule of the said property.

Names and signatures of two witnesses

Name, seal and date of an authorized officer

• The validity or termination date of the POA must be specified
• Photocopy of valid Bangladeshi Passport or Bangladeshi National Identity Card.
• Two copies of passport size photographs.
• Must be authenticated by signature or thumb impression.
• Non-judicial stamp paper should be used.

Limitation of Power of Attorney:

The Power of Attorney Act specifies certain limitations on attorney. Such limitations include execution of wills, execution of adoption certificates, execution of trust instruments, gift, donation and bequest deeds and execution of powers relating to adoption.

Execution of Foreign Power of Attorney:

The Power of Attorney Act 2012 has made it possible for persons residing outside Bangladesh to execute Power of Attorney. A attorney must be registered under section 52A of the Registration Act 1908 to be legally enforceable.

The attorney must be executed and signed in the presence of the appropriate officer, which in the case of persons residing outside Bangladesh is the concerned officer of the Bangladesh Embassy located in that country. The document must be notarized and attested by the Bangladesh Embassy. The documents must be verified by the Ministry of External Affairs for cross-verification.

Execute POA by persons residing outside Bangladesh. For persons residing outside Bangladesh, this must be executed and signed in the presence of the Bangladesh Consulate or Mission in that country.

In Bangladesh, the executed power of attorney must be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for attestation within two months of arrival in Bangladesh and duly stamped within three months thereafter.

If power of attorney is required to be registered, it should be submitted to the concerned sub-registry office within four months of receiving it.

Apart from registration at the local sub-registrar’s office further attestation by the District Commissioner of the area concerned is required if the PoA relates to sale or purchase of land. After MoFA certification, the PoA is considered mature if it does not relate to land.

Revocation of Power of Attorney: A may be revoked by giving 30 days notice in writing to the power receiver. The POA can be revoked by the principal himself or it can be revoked by mutual agreement of the power grantor and the power receiver.

Conclusion:

As per Section 7 of the Power of Attorney Act 2012, any act performed by an agent is deemed to be performed by the principal. Any person or entity shall be liable if any act is done by means of a attorney. In real life practice sometimes authorities and some organizations (eg banks) accept PoA on company letterhead (for foreign companies) instead of non-judicial stamp paper. Creating a foreign power of attorney is a difficult process. For that reason, it is essential to check all documents with expert opinion, advice or assistance.

References:

Act, 2012
Rules, 2015
Registration Act, 1908