Hoang Mai leases water surface without authority: Need to clarify the purpose of the complaint

(Baonghean) - The incident of Quynh Lap commune (Hoang Mai town) leasing sea surface to a household for aquaculture without authority has been handled and resolved promptly and has not caused serious consequences. However, taking advantage of the commune's violations, a few individuals have written complaints to many places with improper purposes?! The authorities need to intervene to clarify the incident to prevent it soon...

The estuary area that Quynh Lap commune (Hoang Mai) leased to Mr. Tran Xuan Dien's household for aquaculture.

On November 11, 2014, the People's Committee of Quynh Lap Commune (Hoang Mai Town) signed Contract No. 06-HDKT with Mr. Tran Xuan Dien's household, Dong Minh hamlet (Quynh Lap commune) on allowing Mr. Dien's household to contract the sea surface area for the purpose of aquaculture. The leased location has a width from the edge of Hon Cu to the sea of ​​1,000m and a length along the edge of the sea waves of 2,000m. The contract has a term of 5 years, is worth 2 million VND, and takes effect from December 1, 2014. However, after knowing about this incident, on the afternoon of November 24, 2014, many people in the 3 hamlets of Dong Minh, Tan Minh, and Dong Thanh went to the People's Committee of the commune to protest. According to the people, the location that the commune leased to Mr. Dien occupied the entire estuary, while this is the place where fishermen from the 3 hamlets: Dong Minh, Tan Minh, and Dong Thanh enter and anchor their boats. Moreover, this is also the place to get water and discharge water for people to raise shrimp as well as catch snails and clams to make a living when the sea is rough. People are concerned that when Mr. Dien puts the above sea surface area into use, it will seriously affect production activities as well as people's income. Therefore, people asked the commune to cancel the contract signed with Mr. Dien.

Realizing that the people's opinions were legitimate and because the contract had not yet taken effect, on November 25, 2014, the People's Committee of Quynh Lap Commune issued Notice No. 16 on the cancellation of Contract No. 06/HDKT signed with Mr. Dien and sent it to the executive committees of the three hamlets Dong Minh, Tan Minh, and Dong Thanh to disseminate to the people. The notice clearly stated: "After consideration and survey, there are some inappropriate points. Now, the People's Committee of the commune has agreed to stop leasing the above area to Mr. Tran Xuan Dien for aquaculture and cancel Economic Contract No. 06/HDKT dated November 11, 2014". On November 28, in response to the people's request, the Commune People's Committee continued to issue Notice No. 17 on the cancellation of Contract No. 06. Discussing this issue, Mr. Nguyen Van Thong, Secretary of the Quynh Lap Commune Party Committee, said: When there were opinions from the people, the Commune People's Committee considered that the people's reaction was correct and promptly handled the matter by canceling the contract before it took effect. The mistake of the Commune People's Committee was that the staff member who advised on the contract document recorded the wrong rental location, but when the Chairman signed, he did not read it again. Moreover, the understanding of the Law and regulations was limited, so the Commune leased without authority. Because there were no consequences, the Commune only criticized the Commune Chairman and related officials and organized a review to learn from experience.

Contract No. 06/HDKT between Quynh Lap Commune People's Committee and Mr. Tran Xuan Dien.

Although the commune had issued a notice to cancel the contract, the people were still not satisfied, so on November 28, 2014, they continued to go to the People's Committee of Hoang Mai Town to report the incident. At the meeting, the representative of the People's Committee of Hoang Mai Town explained and analyzed to the people the provisions of the law as well as the settlement of Quynh Lap Commune was correct. Mr. Pham Van Hao, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Hoang Mai Town, said: The People's Committee of Quynh Lap Commune leased the sea surface beyond its authority and violated the Land Law of 2013. The People's Committee of Hoang Mai Town issued Notice No. 152/TB-UBND on the cancellation of Contract No. 06 that Quynh Lap Commune had signed with Mr. Tran Xuan Dien. The People's Committee of the Town assigned the People's Committee of Quynh Lap Commune to strictly manage the above water surface area, not to let any organization or individual use it without permission from the competent authority. After being analyzed and explained in detail, the people felt secure and left.

Notice No. 16 of Quynh Lap Commune People's Committee on cancellation of contract No. 06 with Mr. Tran Xuan Dien.

However, a few days later, some people continued to file a complaint against the commune government and sent it to many places. Mr. Hoang Van Len, Dong Minh hamlet (Quynh Lap commune), one of the signatories of the petition, said: At first, people filed a petition asking the commune to return the sea surface and then the commune announced the cancellation, but people were not satisfied. Because the first cancellation notice on November 16, 2014 did not state the cancellation content, people did not believe it. After that, the commune continued to issue a notice on November 25, 2014, but in this notice, it only stated the cancellation of the southeast side of Hon Cu, not the entire area around Hon Cu as stated in the contract. People suspected that there was another contract that the Commune People's Committee was hiding? The main purpose of the people was to reclaim the sea surface and wanted to know who signed the contract on behalf of Mr. Dien?

Continuing to investigate, we found that the opinions of Mr. Len and some individuals in the petition were only a small part, not receiving the agreement of the majority of people in the 3 hamlets. Mr. Hoang Van Khu, head of Dong Minh hamlet, said that the People's Committee of Quynh Lap commune leasing the sea surface was wrong, but the commune later reviewed the individuals who violated the law and announced the cancellation. Personally, I and the people in the hamlet found it reasonable and felt secure in doing business. However, there were still a few individuals who were not satisfied and wrote a petition. That was only a personal opinion and did not represent the entire people in the hamlet. Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Hoang Van Dong, head of Tan Minh hamlet, said: The whole hamlet has 250 households with 1,000 people, but only a few people filed a petition. They wrote it themselves and sent it to many places, not through the hamlet, so the hamlet did not know. Moreover, most people felt that the settlement of the commune People's Committee as well as Hoang Mai Town was enough, so no one had any more opinions.

Notice No. 152 of Hoang Mai Town People's Committee on cancellation of aquaculture water surface lease contract of Quynh Lap Commune People's Committee.

Discussing the issue that some individuals are wondering about, Mr. Nguyen Van Thong, Secretary of Quynh Lap Commune, said: “We confirm that the commune only signed a single contract with Mr. Tran Xuan Dien and has canceled it. The continued issuance of Notice No. 17 after Notice No. 16 was requested by the people, so the commune issued it to reassure the people. The commune only made changes in form, but the content remained the same and in essence, it did not change compared to Notice No. 16.” Mr. Thong also stated that the reason some people are still filing complaints against the commune People's Committee Chairman is because they do not fully understand the State's administrative regulations and are incited by some individuals with impure purposes. In the coming time, the commune will strengthen propaganda work so that people are fully aware of legal regulations as well as avoid taking advantage of them to affect their lives. The Commune People's Committee is coordinating with relevant agencies to investigate individuals who take advantage of the situation and commit improper acts that affect local security and order, and if found guilty, will be strictly punished.

Nguyen Hung