Final episode: Need to review and handle promptly
The incident that occurred at the Nghe An Province Ethnic Boarding High School and many other schools that Nghe An Newspaper reported, shows that the management of land and dormitories of schools has not been strict at some stages, causing many consequences. To avoid similar incidents, the competent authorities need to promptly organize a review of schools in the whole province, to handle the matter thoroughly before the incident becomes complicated.
Teachers do not have land use rights.
At the end of June 2024, nearly 2 months after the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued a document announcing the results of the inspection and review of the dossier for granting the Certificate of Land Use Rights and the plan to handle the petition at the Nghe An Provincial Boarding Ethnic Minority High School, 2 teachers' families still refused to hand over the land to the school to build a student dormitory. Although the People's Committee of the province concluded that these households did not have the right to use the land in the school's dormitory area.
A representative of the leadership of the Nghe An Province Boarding Ethnic High School said: “After the Provincial People's Committee issued a document announcing the inspection results, representatives of two teachers' families contacted the school. Both families still refused to hand over the premises. One family demanded that the school support 500 million VND before they would leave (the school could not afford that amount); the other family asked the school to sign a confirmation that the information was not true (the school did not accept this). We also do not understand why they made such a request.”
Meanwhile, the project to build a dormitory for students of Nghe An Ethnic Boarding High School is very urgent. Currently, hundreds of boarding students are still staying in cramped and stuffy functional rooms. According to the schedule, the project must be completed in 2024 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the school's founding as well as to disburse funds, but is at risk of being behind schedule.
We are also very impatient. The conclusion of the Provincial People's Committee is so clear... Now they still refuse to hand over, the construction unit sends documents to the school every few days to urge the handover of the site."
Representative of the leaders of Nghe An Province Boarding High School for Ethnic Minorities
According to the inspection results recently announced by the Provincial People's Committee, the decision of the Provincial People's Committee to recognize land use rights and grant land use right certificates to Nghe An Provincial Boarding Ethnic High School in 2019 is in accordance with legal regulations. Regarding the fact that Nghe An Provincial Boarding Ethnic High School did not fully report the current status in the application for a land use right certificate (did not declare that there were 5 collective houses), the Provincial Land Registration Office, Vinh City People's Committee, and Ha Huy Tap Ward People's Committee did not fully report to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment the current status of the land area of the 5 collective houses: This content has been concluded by Vinh City People's Committee and Ha Huy Tap Ward People's Committee, affirming that the entire area with 5 collective houses is part of the land area that the Provincial People's Committee has allowed Nghe An Provincial Boarding Ethnic High School (formerly Nghe Tinh Highlands High School) to use since 1984.
The announcement of the inspection results of the People's Committee of Nghe An province also stated: "The omission in the process of declaring, reviewing and recognizing land use rights in 2019 did not change the results of granting land use right certificates to the Nghe An Provincial Boarding High School for Ethnic Minorities and 5 households using land in the collective housing area (including Mr. Nguyen Van Ky's household) did not have land use rights for the above location. On the other hand, based on the provisions of Clause 2, Article 106 of the 2013 Land Law: The omission in declaring and checking the current status did not lead to incorrect land use area and land users, so it is not a case where the State revokes the granted land use right certificates".
At Ha Huy Tap High School, Mr. Cao Thanh Bao - Principal of the school said that after Nghe An Newspaper reported the incident, the school also invited Mr. Nguyen Duc Canh to work. “We invited Mr. Canh to work and once again affirmed that the dormitory is the school's property, requesting that he not rent it out. We can only ask him to find a place to live soon, to hand over the dormitory to the school. Because the school actually needs that space to build a parking lot for students. But he did not accept, so the school is in a difficult position.”
Delay in processing
In Notice No. 125/TB-UBND dated February 22, 2024, the conclusion of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung atregular citizen reception sessionFebruary 2024 concluded, the contents of citizens' complaints and petitions were assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, relevant sectors and Vinh City People's Committee to inspect, review and have concluded, responded "there is no basis for settlement and not enough conditions for compensation, support, resettlement according to the law".
At the citizen reception session, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also requested households in the housing area to promptly hand over the site so that Nghe An Provincial Boarding High School for Ethnic Minorities can implement the project on schedule.
Regarding the situation of Mr. Nguyen Van Ky's family, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Vinh City People's Committee to consider and propose the allocation of residential land without auctioning land use rights if the conditions are met according to regulations based on the provisions of Decision No. 78/2014/QD-UBND dated October 27, 2014 of the Provincial People's Committee. However, currently, Decision No. 78 of the Provincial People's Committee has expired since March 18, 2024.
Therefore, in Notice No. 344/TB-UBND dated May 6, 2024, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to chair a meeting with the Provincial Inspectorate, Department of Justice, Department of Education and Training, Vinh City People's Committee, Nghe An Province Boarding High School for Ethnic Minorities to review and advise the Provincial People's Committee to resolve the above content to ensure compliance with legal regulations. The results will be reported to the Provincial People's Committee before May 31, 2024.
However, on June 24, 2024, the leader of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment reported in writing to the Provincial People's Committee that, up to this point, nearly 1 month has passed the deadline, but the Department of Justice (the unit assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to coordinate in Notice No. 344/TB-UBND) has not yet had a document commenting on the content of the proposal of the Vinh City People's Committee and the handling viewpoint of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, although the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has sent two documents urging.
Not only at the Provincial Boarding Ethnic High School and Ha Huy Tap High School, according to the reporter's investigation, there are many schools in the province that have similar situations. At Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted (Vinh City), there are also some retired teachers who have not yet handed over their dormitories to the school. Some have even moved to Hanoi for work a long time ago.
"For a long time, principals have paid little attention to these issues, only focusing on teaching and learning. Therefore, not only is there a situation of borrowing collective houses without returning them, but many schools have had their land encroached upon by surrounding residents. Some schools lent teachers land to live temporarily but lost it. Therefore, in my opinion, it is necessary to urgently review all schools to handle it promptly and thoroughly, avoiding future consequences," said a principal of a high school in Do Luong district./.
