Nghia Hanh Commune Government (Tan Ky) 'broke trust' with the people?

broken faith

Writing a complaint to Nghe An Newspaper at the end of April 2020, Mr. Le Huu Ngo stated that in 1991, he submitted a petition to the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh Commune and Thong Nhat Cooperative to purchase a plot of land with an area of ​​about 2,000 m², about 100m long along the village road, currently under the management of the Cooperative. The Cooperative Management Board and the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh Commune later agreed, confirmed the petition, and allocated the land to his family.

Living with his family on the land until 2001, Mr. Ngo was asked by the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh commune to borrow land to set up a kindergarten. Partly because he thought the land was large, partly because he felt sorry for the children in the neighborhood who had to go to school far away, Mr. Ngo agreed. However, because he trusted the government, the land borrowing was not recorded in writing but only verbally agreed with the responsible people of the commune (including the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune, the school principal and the land officer). That is, "When the kindergarten no longer needs to use the land, it will be returned to the family."

The kindergarten was then built, the children had a convenient place to study. In 2013, the kindergarten was moved to a new, more suitable location by the Commune People's Committee, Mr. Ngo wrote a request to return the land. However, the commune government at that time said that his request to return the land was unfounded. There was even information that the Provincial People's Committee had granted a Land Use Rights Certificate to the kindergarten for this plot of land...

Mr. Le Huu Ngo presented the incident to Nghe An Newspaper reporter.

In Hamlet 8, Nghia Hanh Commune, the land plot that used to be the site of a kindergarten is currently abandoned. On the land, there are only overgrown bushes and a system of dilapidated classrooms. Here, Mr. Le Huu Ngo presented the previous land purchase documents, which are "Application for purchase of residential land for business services, land of Nghia Hanh Cooperative store" written by him on April 29, 1991; confirmed by the Cooperative Chairman on April 30, 1991; "agreed" by the Commune People's Committee, stamped with a red seal on May 5, 1991.

Regarding the matter of lending land to the Commune People's Committee to build a kindergarten, Mr. Le Huu Ngo confirmed that no documents were made. However, living witnesses are former officials who are still alive, such as the land officer of Nghia Hanh Commune, Mr. Vo Trong Phuong; former Chairman of Nghia Hanh Commune People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Viet Hoa; Ms. Binh, former Principal of the Commune Kindergarten...; and many local people who know the matter testified.

Mr. Le Huu Ngo was indignant: “The matter is very clear, but for many years the commune government has deliberately denied responsibility. They even claimed that it was a barren plot of land under the commune’s management to reject my petition...”.

Well-founded recommendations

According to the investigation, Mr. Le Huu Ngo and his wife were originally from Do Luong district, and used to work at the Production Camp under the Nghe An Mechanical Department, located in Huong Son commune, Tan Ky district. In 1991, when he was old enough to retire, Mr. Ngo completed the procedures to buy land and asked to immigrate to Nghia Hanh commune. Therefore, in the "Application to buy residential land for business services, Nghia Hanh Cooperative store land" also presented the wish to register their household in Nghia Hanh commune. In this application, Mr. Ngo described quite thoroughly the area, length, as well as the location of the land plot. Specifically: "...

It is known that the cooperative sold the store area, the two sides agreed on the following conditions: The residential land is 5m from the North counter, running along the village road, the length to the market to the South, the end of the hillside according to the store's planning area is about 2,000 m² (independent land)"; "The length of the land is along the village road, along the hill close to the road, the length is about 100m in the North direction close to the road". In the application, Mr. Ngo also committed that if considered, he would "pay in cash before coming to live in Nghia Hanh commune".

On the vacant lot there is a system of dilapidated classrooms.

Mr. Ngo's application was approved by the Cooperative's Chairman, Mr. Dau Thanh Xuan, who signed and confirmed the content: "Agree as presented. Based on the synchronous document, we respectfully request the Commune People's Committee to accept and allow it." As for the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh Commune, the representative, Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, Ngo Xuan Nghiem, wrote a note on the application: "Considering the family's application, the Commune People's Committee agreed to allow Mr. Le Huu Ngo - Song Con Production Farm to buy a stall of Thong Nhat Cooperative in the 9-room market area to provide services and register his household registration at the unified management unit"; at the same time, signed and stamped the Commune People's Committee.

At the time of 1991, with the information on the application, Mr. Le Huu Ngo's land purchase had a legal basis. Regarding the current status of Mr. Le Huu Ngo's land and house, it is on the same commune road as the vacant land that used to have a kindergarten. Applying the information about the land described in the application, comparing it with the current status of the land from Mr. Le Huu Ngo's house to the end of the kindergarten, it is similar in area, length and location.

Secretary of the Party Committee of Nghia Hanh commune, Mr. Vo Trong Phuong, talked with reporters of Nghe An Newspaper.

Meeting Mr. Vo Trong Phuong, a cadastral officer of Nghia Hanh commune (one of the three witnesses Mr. Le Huu Ngo mentioned in the petition), he confirmed that Mr. Ngo's request was true. Mr. Vo Trong Phuong, currently the Party Secretary of Nghia Hanh commune, said that in 2001, as a cadastral officer, he represented the commune government to persuade Mr. Le Huu Ngo to lend him land to build a kindergarten.

Mr. Phuong recounted: “At first, Mr. Ngo did not agree. But after thinking it over, Mr. Ngo agreed and said, “If the school still uses it, then fine, but if there is no need to use it anymore, the commune will return it to me.” I reported it to the commune leaders. After that, the kindergarten was built on the land Mr. Ngo lent to the commune. I will tell you how the incident happened. In 2014, when Mr. Ngo wrote a petition asking the commune to return the land, because I was the official who directly borrowed the land for the commune, I confirmed it on the petition for him…”.

So why did Nghia Hanh commune reject his petition? According to Mr. Phuong, because he switched to Party work, he was not closely involved in handling citizens' petitions. Besides, the commune borrowed land to build a school many years ago; the cadres from the same period, some have retired, some have changed jobs, so the verification and handling of petitions are not reasonable...

"Reverse" society

The collection of related documents shows that since 2005, the Provincial People's Committee has issued a Land Use Rights Certificate, assigning the right to manage and use the land plot that Mr. Le Huu Ngo is complaining about to Nghia Hanh 1 Kindergarten. Regarding Mr. Le Huu Ngo's petition, in 2016, the Nghia Hanh Commune People's Committee verified and resolved it with the conclusion that there was no basis for consideration; in 2017, the Tan Ky District People's Committee and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment also resolved Mr. Ngo's petition and came to the same conclusion as the Nghia Hanh Commune People's Committee.

Regarding the conclusion of the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh Commune, as shown in Report No. 104/BC-UBND dated October 10, 2016 reporting "Results of checking the content of petitions and complaints of citizens" (signed by Mr. Dao Cong Nam - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the Commune). The conclusion is: "Based on the cadastral records, documents and information on verified land use rights, the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh Commune concludes that Mr. Le Huu Ngo's request to prepare a dossier to issue a Certificate of land use rights for the land lent to the People's Committee of the Commune in 2001 is unfounded...".

However, working with Nghe An Newspaper reporter on May 12, 2020, Chairman of Nghia Hanh Commune People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Quang Tuan rejected this conclusion. Because according to Mr. Nguyen Quang Tuan, this report was made by a working group assigned by the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee to verify citizens' petitions. The task of the working group after verification is to report the results, not to draw conclusions. Also according to Mr. Tuan, Mr. Le Huu Ngo's petition is well-founded. Because the land sale and purchase with documents was agreed upon by responsible officials of Nghia Hanh Commune at the same time, confirmed on the application and stamped by the Commune People's Committee. Through actual inspection, from Mr. Ngo's house to the end of the land plot with complaints, the total length is 97m, equivalent to the information with the length of the land plot described in Mr. Ngo's land purchase application of about 100m.

In addition, Mr. Nguyen Quang Tuan said that he was informed by former responsible people such as former Chairman of the Commune People's Committee Nguyen Van Hoa and Party Secretary Vo Trong Phuong about the commune borrowing land to build a kindergarten in the past...

Chairman of Nghia Hanh Commune People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan talked with Nghe An Newspaper reporter.

How will the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh commune respond in the future? The Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh commune expressed concern because the Provincial People's Committee had issued a Land Use Rights Certificate to the Commune Kindergarten to manage and use the land plot, so the commune did not have enough authority to resolve Mr. Le Huu Ngo's petition.

Speaking to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan, the concern is right. But to resolve the request of Mr. Le Huu Ngo in a reasonable and sympathetic manner, it will have to start from the local authorities. Faced with this reality, the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh commune must carefully review, verify, and have an explanatory report sent to the People's Committee of Tan Ky district, so that the district can report to the Provincial People's Committee and relevant departments for consideration and resolution.

Chairman of Nghia Hanh Commune People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan, discussed: "Regarding the previous land purchase of Mr. Le Huu Ngo, it is basically clear. As for lending land to the commune to set up a kindergarten, we will invite relevant people to work. After that, there will be an explanatory report to the District People's Committee...".