It is necessary to supplement regulations related to the Fatherland Front in supervising the implementation of land laws and policies.

The Vietnam Fatherland Front, as a voluntary political and union alliance, has the function of representing and protecting the legitimate and legal rights and interests of the people; supervising and providing social criticism as stipulated in the 2013 Constitution. However, the provisions related to the Fatherland Front in the Draft Law on Land (amended) this time are not commensurate and not suitable for the position and role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front. Therefore,Fatherland FrontAll levels have commented and synthesized proposals to amend and supplement the provisions in this draft law.

Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW also emphasized the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations in formulating, implementing and supervising land laws and policies. However, after reviewing, the Draft Law on Land amended this time only has 06 articles regulating the Vietnam Fatherland Front (Articles 77, 78, 79, 223, 227, 229). In which, the main provisions are on the role of advocacy and persuasion when reclaiming land, clearing land... but there is still a lack of provisions on the role of supervision and social criticism mentioned in Resolution 18-NQ/TW.

Scene of the Social Criticism Conference on the Draft Amended Land Law at Nghe An bridge. Photo: HT

Most of the regulations ofLand LawThe amendment only mentions the Vietnam Fatherland Front at the commune level, the Fatherland Front at other levels are not subject to the regulation of this Draft Law. And the content of the regulations on the Fatherland Front at the commune level is only to build, persuade people to implement, confirm the minutes of the organization of collecting opinions on the compensation and resettlement plan; the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune coordinates with the Fatherland Front at the commune level to reconcile land disputes.

There is only one provision in Article 223 of the Draft Law on Land (amended): The Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations shall exercise the right to supervise land management and use in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the Law on the Vietnam Fatherland Front and relevant legal provisions. However, the Draft Law on Land (amended) does not specifically stipulate how to supervise, who to supervise and what work to supervise regarding land management and use.

Therefore, the Fatherland Front at all levels recommends: The Land Law (amended) needs to fully institutionalize the motto "people know, people check, people do".monitoron specific contents related to planning, land use plans, recovery, compensation, and resettlement support. Clearly define the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in participating in planning, land use plans; compensation, support, and resettlement plans before the People's Committee at the same level approves. More specifically define the tasks of the Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations in society in reflecting the aspirations of the people, supervising implementation and providing feedback.

Specific proposed amendments and supplements:

Supplementing Chapter II the rights and obligations of citizens regarding land, including: The right to participate in state management of land; The right to complain and denounce about land in specific cases; The right to protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens regarding land by the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the mechanism for implementation.

Supplementing Chapter IV with regulations on the Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels to supervise and provide social feedback on planning and plans; implementing land use planning and plans at their level.

Supplementing Chapter V with regulations on the rights and responsibilities of the Fatherland Front at all levels in supervising land allocation,land for rent, change of land use purpose of competent agencies and individuals in their locality.

Supplementing Chapter VI with regulations on the rights and responsibilities of the Fatherland Front at provincial and district levels in monitoring and recovering land and requisitioning land by the People's Committees at provincial and district levels.

Supplementing Chapter VII with regulations on the rights and responsibilities of the Vietnam Fatherland Front to supervise compensation and resettlement support when competent state agencies reclaim land. The draft provides a process for collecting people's opinions, clearly stating who the people are (stipulated as the law on implementing democracy at the grassroots level is household representatives); what is the role of the Front and the People's Council? It is necessary to set out the principle of consensus, and regulations on handling the results when collecting opinions by ballot on compensation and resettlement plans. Suppose that 80% of households in the area do not agree with the proposed plan, should that plan be used again or should another plan be made?

Delegation of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee inspects the resettlement project of Vinh - Cua Lo Boulevard. Photo: Nguyen Hai

In the current draft, it is stipulated that only when land is forcibly recovered and people do not agree, does the Front need to get involved. However, it is necessary to stipulate that the Front must get involved right from the step of announcing land recovery and approving compensation plans. In addition to advocacy and persuasion, the Front needs to have a critical voice from the time of project development.

Resolution No. 18 provides a humane regulation that in cases of land acquisition that require resettlement, resettlement arrangements must be completed before land acquisition, so that after land acquisition, people whose land is acquired must have a place to live, ensuring a life equal to or better than their old place of residence.

Comments sent to the Vietnam Fatherland Front suggested that people have the right to choose one of three forms of resettlement: receive money to find resettlement land and houses themselves; receive land and houses in resettlement areas; receive land and houses in residential areas. Regardless of which form people choose, it is necessary to stipulate the assistance of the government, the front, and organizations so that people have land, houses, and a better life than in their old place. Local practice shows that in the initial implementation process, people were very supportive and received money to carry out resettlement. But after a period of high land prices, people who could not find resettlement land requested to return the compensation money, so it is necessary to resolve the housing of people who have agreed to let people return the compensation money. The Land Law does not yet have regulations on this issue, so it is proposed to study and include it in this draft law.

In Chapter IX on land registration, granting of certificates of land use rights, house ownership rights and other assets attached to land, Chapter X on finance and land, Chapter XII on the regime of land use, Chapter XIII on the rights and obligations of land users, it is necessary to supplement the provisions on citizens' rights in supervising land management and use. At the same time, it is necessary to stipulate that socio-political organizations and socio-professional organizations representing citizens supervise and provide social criticism on land management and use related to this issue.

In Chapter XV, which regulates supervision, inspection, examination, settlement of disputes, complaints and denunciations, if the previous chapters do not supplement the rights and responsibilities of the Fatherland Front at all levels in the stages of state management of land and land use, this Chapter must provide specific regulations, and cannot provide general regulations such as Clause 2, Article 223, Article 224 on citizens' supervision of land management and use. It is necessary to supplement Clause 4 with the form of supervision through socio-political organizations and professional social organizations.