The tragic plight of a man who lost his land and home because he went away to work.
Having been separated from his parents shortly after his birth, Mr. Dinh grew up alone. Due to the demands of making a living, he is now nearly 60 years old and still hasn't married. Meanwhile, his only and most valuable asset—the plot of land and house in his hometown—is gone.
Weary of waiting for justice.
In mid-October 2024, we met Mr. Tran Ba Dinh (55 years old) again, when he was busy unloading crates of fruit at the wholesale market in Vinh City. Mr. Dinh is the subject of this article."The man lost his house and his land after returning from working away from home."The article published in Nghe An Newspaper on October 5th has attracted considerable public attention.
Putting aside his work, Mr. Dinh explained that after many years of wandering and making a living in the southern provinces, in 2019, during a rare visit to his hometown, he discovered that his house was gone and his land had been confiscated by the An Hoa Commune People's Committee to expand the kindergarten. To make it easier to travel and claim compensation, he moved back to Vinh to live, rented a room, and started selling fruits at the Vinh wholesale market.
“For the past six years, I’ve traveled back and forth between Vinh and Quynh Luu hundreds of times, but my case remains unresolved. I have nothing left now; that piece of land is my only asset,” Mr. Dinh said.
Regarding the reason for rarely visiting despite having a home in his hometown, Mr. Dinh explained that although it is his ancestral land, he has no family there, only close relatives, so he has very little contact with them. His parents separated when he was born, and both left the village to start new families far away. Mr. Dinh was raised by his maternal grandparents in An Hoa commune from a young age.
“My maternal grandfather passed away when I was in middle school. My maternal grandmother was old and frail and couldn't afford to raise me, so I went to live with my paternal grandparents. During my years in the countryside, I could count the number of times I saw my parents on one hand. My mother remarried and moved far away, and life was very difficult, so she only visited once every few years. On my paternal side, my father also worked far away, so I lived with my paternal grandparents and stepmother,” Mr. Dinh recounted, adding that in 11th grade, after many arguments with his stepmother, he decided to drop out of school and work as a laborer in the salt fields.
When he reached the age to join the army, Mr. Dinh volunteered to serve. After leaving the military and working as a laborer for a short time, in 1994, he decided to return to his hometown of An Hoa. However, by then, both his paternal and maternal grandparents had passed away, leaving the young man to begin a life of homelessness. Every day, Mr. Dinh would go with his friends to work as a laborer. In the evenings, he would stay at the house of his cousin, Vo Ngoc Hung.
"He's my cousin, but I treat him like a younger brother. His circumstances were very difficult; he had no home, no family, so he lived with me at the time. In 1996, he managed to borrow 2 million dong to buy a 100m² plot of land."2"It was the People's Committee of the commune. I was the one who paid the money to the commune, and then followed the commune leaders to receive the land. I still have the receipt with all the signatures of the commune officials," Mr. Hung (62 years old) recounted.
After acquiring the land, Mr. Dinh opened a kiosk to work as a barber. However, after some time, while still building his house, he ran out of capital, so he decided to go to the South to work and earn money to continue the construction.
“But life took a different turn, and he decided to stay there. The house and land were left for me to look after,” Mr. Vo Ngoc Hung recounted, adding that he later rented the house out to someone else. In 2017, the leaders of An Hoa commune met with him to...campaign to exchange land plotsMr. Dinh's land was to be moved to another location to expand the landscape for the kindergarten right behind it. Believing that the land exchange stemmed from a good purpose, for the benefit of the community, Mr. Hung agreed to sign the minutes.
“They suggested I demolish the house, and then they would give Dinh a similar plot of land in a different location. I was also careless not to call Dinh to inform him. Even more careless was trusting the commune leaders. After the house was demolished, I waited and waited, but they still didn't give my brother another plot of land. They kept promising again and again. Meanwhile, the minutes clearly stated everything. I never imagined I would be deceived,” Mr. Hung said angrily.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dinh recounted that during his years in the South, he worked various odd jobs, but life was still difficult. Because he was busy making a living, even at the age of 55, he still hasn't married. "I haven't been as fortunate as many others. From a young age, I didn't experience the joy of a family with my parents, and now I don't have a wife or children. Now, I'm old, and I've lost my house, so the hope of starting a family is gone," Mr. Dinh said sadly.
Who is responsible?
Regarding this matter, Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu District, said that the District People's Committee has also issued a document urging the People's Committee of An Hoa Commune to verify the land's origin once again and then draw a conclusion. “The district has issued many documents urging this. Currently, we are requiring An Hoa Commune to review the land's origin, draw a conclusion, and report to the District People's Committee before October 20, 2024. After this deadline, if the Commune People's Committee does not submit a report or fails to do so, the District People's Committee will form a team. At that time, the responsibility of the Commune People's Committee will also be considered. The commune is also confused about this matter and has been passing the buck to the district for a long time,” Mr. Dinh said.
According to Mr. Dinh, the An Hoa Commune People's Committee previously reported that his land plot had been legally granted a land use right certificate. However, a recent review by the district revealed that this land plot "has legal irregularities." Specifically, the land use right certificate revealed that the area of the land plot was arbitrarily recorded by the An Hoa Commune land cadastral officer.
“Land management was different in the past, unlike now. Nowadays, land clearance requires very thorough investigation of land ownership. So we are assigning the commune to verify and draw its own conclusion. If it is legal, we will handle it by compensating and allocating resettlement land to Mr. Dinh. If it is illegal, we must revoke the land use right certificate and impose administrative penalties for Mr. Dinh's encroachment, as he has no rights to this plot of land,” Mr. Dinh said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ho Anh Dung, Chairman of the An Hoa Commune People's Committee, stated that this matter is difficult, and the commune cannot resolve it without the support of the Quynh Luu District People's Committee. "The incident is due to the mistakes of the previous commune leaders, and I must take responsibility for resolving it. But it's likely we'll have to wait for the court to resolve it, because the case is very complicated," Mr. Dung said, adding that in 1996, he was a commune official and knew about Mr. Dinh buying this plot of land from the Commune People's Committee for 2 million dong. Commune officials collected the money and deposited it into the budget. The commune leaders then directly showed the land to Mr. Dinh to build a barbershop.
“The truth is that the commune did sell that plot of land to Mr. Dinh. But at that time, things were lax, so the records now are a bit shaky and there are discrepancies,” Mr. Dung said, adding that the commune acknowledges the mistake in the 2017 land reclamation from Mr. Dinh and wishes to compensate and resettle him. However, the commune does not have the authority to grant land.
Regarding the statement by the Quỳnh Lưu district leadership that the land plot "has incorrect legal status" because the land cadastral officer of An Hòa commune arbitrarily added an extra 100m² of residential land to the land use right certificate.2Mr. Tran Ba Dinh disagreed.
“If that’s the case, then the People’s Committee of Quynh Luu District needs to verify and clarify the responsibility of the officials for adding the information. Because the issuance of land use right certificates is carried out by competent state agencies and individuals with the necessary functions and duties. The preparation of dossiers, issuance of land use right certificates, and management of land records are the responsibility and obligation of competent state agencies. I cannot know who added the information. As a citizen, I only know to follow the instructions of the state agency and receive the land use right certificate from the competent state agency,” Mr. Dinh said, adding that this information is not new, as since April 2024, the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Quynh Luu District has issued a similar conclusion and assigned the People’s Committee of An Hoa Commune to verify and conclude on the origin of land use… I don’t understand why the verification process is taking so long.
“I paid for the land from the commune, and I have all the necessary documents. The commune assigned me a specific plot of land, and I live on that plot. Since receiving the land, my family has built a house, lived stably on this plot, and fulfilled our obligation to pay land use tax annually,” Mr. Dinh added.
After months of waiting, most recently on August 5, 2024, Mr. Dinh submitted another complaint to the People's Committee of Quynh Luu District requesting a prompt resolution of the case. In a letter responding to Mr. Dinh on August 22, 2024, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu District stated that the Chairman of the People's Committee had assigned the Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to investigate and resolve the case completely; the results would be reported to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, the Chairman of the District People's Committee, and a response would be given to the citizen before September 15, 2024. However, nearly a month has passed since the deadline, and the case remains unresolved. Meanwhile, the leaders of the People's Committee of the district claim that the responsibility for handling the matter lies with the People's Committee of An Hoa Commune?
