Part 1: Local officials encroach on hundreds of square meters of prime school land.
A local official (in Tan Ky district) was illegally granted permission by the commune's People's Committee chairman to allocate 20 square meters of school land to build a convenience store kiosk. However, he subsequently encroached further on school land, increasing the total area to over 150 square meters. The incident was reported by local residents, but after many years, no action has been taken despite a clear conclusion.
Unauthorized land seizure
For many years, during meetings between People's Councils at all levels and voters in Phu Son commune (Tan Ky district), some residents have questioned the encroachment of a former commune official on "prime land" belonging to Phu Son Primary School to build a permanent house. Residents have filed complaints, and the local authorities have concluded that the violation occurred, but to this day, the case remains unresolved, and the house still stands prominently within the school grounds, in what is considered the most prime location in the commune.
According to our investigation, in 1993, Mr. Le Phuong Hai, an official of Phu Son commune, was granted a 20m² plot of land in the area of Phu Son Primary School by a decision of the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune.2(length 5m, width 4m)2), to build kiosks for selling groceries. This land allocation by the Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Son commune is an act beyond his authority.
.jpg)
Not only was the land cut illegally, but even though only 20 meters were allowed to be cut, it was still done without proper authorization.2However, Mr. Hai's family later openly encroached on the land, increasing the total area to over 151 square meters.2This plot of land is located right at a road intersection, with two sides bordering inter-communal roads. In front is the Phu Son Commune People's Committee headquarters, and behind is a school.
In 2008, following the policy of surveying cadastral maps in Phu Son commune to serve land management and the issuance and renewal of land use right certificates, this plot of land was measured with an area of 151m².2Despite discovering that the land had been encroached upon, the Phu Son commune authorities at the time took no action. Furthermore, they later created a file to help the family of the commune official receive compensation.
Specifically, during the construction of the road leading to the commune center and the Khe Là canal project, Mr. Hai's family received compensation twice, totaling over 70 million VND, for a land area of 61 square meters that was cleared.2"After being compensated for 61m"2Logically, the plot of land now only has 91 square meters left.2But for some reason, Mr. Hai's family still built a solid house, and the plot of land even increased in size to 156 square meters.2"This is very suspicious," said a resident of Phu Son commune, adding that this means Mr. Hai received compensation for the encroached land but still did not clear the area, and even encroached further.
.jpg)
Struggling to find a solution
Regarding the aforementioned incident, in 2018, a village head in Phu Son commune filed a complaint with the Tan Ky District People's Committee against Mr. Le Phuong Hai for encroaching on land belonging to a national standard school and illegally constructing a house. In the complaint, the head stated that initially, Mr. Hai's father had applied to borrow a small plot of land to build a barbershop. This shop was later transferred to Mr. and Mrs. Hai for use in selling groceries.
“Initially, he borrowed a small plot of land at the corner of the school to sell hair, but then he stopped returning it and encroached on it many times over. When he received compensation, he didn't clear the land, but instead used the compensation money to expand, building a larger house and covering the canal with a roof to create a business space, obstructing the view of passersby. Local residents are very upset and have complained many times, but the authorities still haven't taken action,” this person said.
Following the complaint, the People's Committee of Phu Son commune conducted an investigation and concluded that the citizen's complaint was true. However, no action was taken afterward.
.jpg)
On April 16, 2018, residents continued to submit complaints to the Tan Ky District People's Committee. On July 23, 2018, in a document regarding the handling of citizens' complaints, the Tan Ky District People's Committee stated that, after reviewing the content of the complaints and accompanying documents, and based on legal regulations, the District People's Committee found that the Phu Son Commune People's Committee had concluded that the allegations were true, but the proposed solutions were not specific enough. Therefore, the Chairman of the District People's Committee assigned the Chairman of the Phu Son Commune People's Committee to investigate and provide a supplementary conclusion on the following: the time of encroachment; the encroached area; and the proposed solutions.
By August 23, 2018, the People's Committee of Phu Son commune had submitted a report on the results of the verification and proposed handling measures. According to the report of the People's Committee of Phu Son commune, on July 26, 1993, Mr. Le Phuong Hai submitted an application for land to build a stall, which was approved by the Principal of Phu Son Primary School. The People's Committee of Phu Son commune confirmed on September 6, 1993, that 20m² of land at the corner of the school was allocated. A few days later, the People's Committee of Phu Son commune issued a decision agreeing to allow Mr. Hai to proceed with the construction of the stall in this area.
However, according to the inspection results, the Phu Son Commune People's Committee's allocation of land to Mr. Hai was beyond its authority.
.jpg)
Regarding the encroached area, the inspection results show that in 2008, this plot of land had encroached by 151 square meters.2Currently, Mr. Le Phuong Hai has built a solid house, outbuildings, and a business area with a total area of 156 square meters.2In addition, there are 61m2He had received compensation for land clearance when implementing two projects: the Khe Là canal and the road leading to the commune center. However, the inspection team's report stated that "the exact time of Mr. Hai's encroachment could not be determined."
After the inspection results confirmed the encroachment and unauthorized land cutting, the Phu Son Commune People's Committee once again failed to take any action, instead requesting guidance from the Tan Ky District People's Committee.
After waiting for a long time without results, the people continued to file complaints with the Tan Ky District People's Committee. At the citizen reception session of the Tan Ky District People's Committee leaders on December 25, 2018, the people continued to accuse Mr. Le Phuong Hai - an official of Phu Son commune - of appropriating public land, building houses illegally, and receiving compensation but still failing to clear the land. Mr. Trinh Huu Thanh - Vice Chairman of the Tan Ky District People's Committee - subsequently issued a document instructing the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to urge the Phu Son Commune People's Committee to implement Conclusion No. 15/KL-UBND dated March 25, 2018, of the Phu Son Commune People's Committee. The deadline for completion was before January 20, 2019; if the Phu Son Commune People's Committee failed to comply, penalties would be imposed according to regulations.
However, more than six years have passed since the conclusion of the violation, but the Phu Son commune authorities have yet to take any action.
Mr. Nguyen Viet Quynh, the principal of Phu Son Primary School from 2002 to 2008, said that the school has been located in this area for a long time, previously owned by Mr. Le Phuong Hai's father, who worked as a security guard. "Back then, Mr. Hai's father worked as a security guard, so he came to ask to borrow a small plot of land from the school to open a barbershop, making it easier to supervise. A few years later, he handed it over to his son. In 2002, when I became principal, this plot of land was only about 50 square meters."2"That's it. After repeatedly raising the issue with the commune to reclaim the land but to no avail, I had the students build a bamboo fence around it. But when I left, the fence was destroyed, and more of the school's land was encroached upon," Mr. Quynh said.
During my time as principal, the school repeatedly contacted the commune to reclaim the land, both to ensure the school grounds were square and to clear the area, preventing it from obstructing the view of people using the road, as that area was a three-way intersection.
Mr. Nguyen Viet Quynh - Principal of Phu Son Primary School from 2002 to 2008
Speaking with a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, Chairman of the Phu Son Commune People's Committee, said that the land Mr. Hai is currently using has not yet been granted a Certificate of Land Use Rights.
"This is a problem inherited from the past. At that time, due to lax management and partly due to the leadership's lack of awareness, the handling of the situation was quite disorganized. Now that the violations have been clearly investigated, it's still very difficult to take action. If there were no structures on the land, it would be easy, but now they've built solid houses, making it difficult for the authorities to deal with the issue."
Mr. Nguyen Van Dung - Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Son Commune
Reporters have also contacted Mr. Le Phuong Hai several times but without success. Meanwhile, Mr. Hai's wife stated that "the land our family is living on has been allocated to us by the authorities, and we have all the necessary documents."
