Clarifying the responsibility of leaders in receiving people, handling petitions, complaints and denunciations

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In the last months of 2022, implementing the direction of the Provincial People's Committee Chairman on inspecting the responsibility in performing a number of tasks related to receiving people, handling complaints and denunciations, participating in administrative and civil proceedings and issuing a number of decisions and administrative documents of the leaders of the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns, the interdisciplinary inspection team of the Provincial People's Committee directly worked with many localities. Through inspection, most localities had violations related to the work of receiving people, handling complaints and denunciations...

In Quynh Luu district, according to the inspection team's results, from January 2019 to June 2022, 5 documents related to 2 cases filed by citizens in Quynh Tan and Quynh Nghia communes were annulled by the people's court's verdict.

Citizen reception office of Quynh Luu district. Photo: Tien Dong

In addition, the inspection team also determined the responsibility related to the case of citizens accusing Mr. Dao Xuan Son, former Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Quynh Luu district, of violating the State's regulations on the Land Law. Specifically, Mr. Son signed the return form for the application for recognition of residential land limits of the households of Ms. Nguyen Thi Cam, Mr. Nguyen Quang, Mr. Nguyen Que, Mr. Dang Duy Huy and Mr. Thai Phuc Tang on May 15, 2017. However, as the Provincial Inspectorate concluded: The 2013 Land Law does not have regulations on land plots used before 1980 that request re-recognition of residential land limits must have documents on land use rights. According to the regulations of the Provincial People's Committee, the above 5 households are eligible for re-recognition of residential land limits. Mr. Dao Xuan Son's return of the application is incorrect...

At the time of the interdisciplinary inspection, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district also conducted a review of Mr. Dao Xuan Son and Mr. Ho Mau Hung - specialists of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. However, the individuals involved in wrongly advising the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district to issue a conclusion in response to the citizen's petition have not been handled.

People in Tien Thuy commune (Quynh Luu) reflect that the issue of granting and exchanging land use right certificates still has many shortcomings. Photo: Thanh Toan

Also in the period from January 2019 to June 2022 in Quynh Luu district, there were 12 administrative and civil cases related to the responsibility of the District People's Committee in participating in the litigation. However, according to information from the Provincial People's Court, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district did not authorize participation in the litigation of 6 cases; did not participate in dialogue in 7 cases without reason; did not participate in the trial of 4 cases without reason; did not provide documents and evidence as prescribed in 5 cases.

Faced with the accusations of wrongdoing, the representative of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district affirmed that they had sent authorization documents and documents requesting absence from dialogue sessions and had sent them to the court by post, however, they did not check whether the court had received them or not and did not inform the court.

In particular, the inspection team also discovered that in 7 cases of requesting absence from dialogue, there were 3 administrative cases in which the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district was the defendant, the participants in the proceedings were Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dinh - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the district (2 cases) and Mr. Hoang Van Bo - Chairman of the People's Committee of the district (1 case), who were required to attend the dialogue sessions, were only allowed to request a postponement for special reasons and had to participate in the next dialogue session. However, the representative of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district made a request to be absent from the dialogue, which violated the procedural rules and forced the dialogue session to be canceled because one party did not participate, affecting the quality and results of the case.

Even in 5 cases where the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district confirmed that it had provided documents and evidence, it was very slow. Typically, the case filed by Mr. Pham Van Nguyen (residing in Vinh City) and accepted on January 14, 2019, but it was not until October 8, 2021 that the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district provided documents and evidence (according to regulations, 15 days). Or the case of Ms. Bui Thi Thuong (plaintiff), accepted on April 1, 2020, but at the time of inspection, 30 months later, the People's Committee of Quynh Hong commune had not yet provided the requested documents.

Not to mention in Quynh Luu district, from January 2021 to June 2022, there were 13 cases in which the locality was slow in resolving and reporting results and progress to the Provincial People's Committee as required...

Rectifying public reception and handling of complaints and denunciations

According to an officer of the Provincial Citizen Reception Committee, in reality, most of the localities under inspection have certain violations in receiving citizens, handling complaints and denunciations... Specifically, in Vinh City, there are many directive documents and work assignments from the Provincial People's Committee, but there are also delays in reporting results...

Or in Dien Chau district, there are many cases where people have complained and denounced but after a certain period of time they have not been resolved. In some communes such as Dien Truong and Dien Lam, there are some cases where people have complained and petitioned many times but they have not been resolved or have been resolved slowly but have not been reported to the higher authorities.

The provincial National Assembly delegation worked with the Nghi Loc District People's Committee to grasp the situation of handling complaints and denunciations. Photo: Thanh Le

In reality, receiving citizens, handling petitions, complaints, denunciations, and participating in administrative and civil proceedings can be carried out in accordance with the correct procedures. However, there are a number of cases where citizens give the excuse of not having received, or having just received, administrative documents and administrative decisions, while State agencies do not have documents or papers proving the delivery and receipt of administrative documents and administrative decisions to organizations and citizens.

Therefore, immediately after the inspection in the localities, the inspection team also recommended that the Provincial People's Committee assign the districts to find solutions to rectify the organization of the implementation of directive documents, assignment of tasks, and transfer of petitions from the Provincial People's Committee and superior Party and State agencies. It is necessary to specifically study the contents of the directives and legal regulations to have documents for implementation. In cases where localities have different views from the directive opinions of superiors, it is necessary to quickly have a report and proposal for handling. In particular, localities need to report to the Provincial People's Committee the progress of the implementation of assigned tasks and the reasons for the slow resolution, and commit to the completion time. In addition, it is necessary to assign a competent and experienced officer to monitor and advise the Chairman of the District People's Committee in participating in the litigation of administrative and civil cases...

Mr. Ho Anh Thang - Chief Inspector of Quynh Luu district said: After receiving the inspection results of the interdisciplinary team, the locality has issued a document directing departments and specialized agencies to rectify the organization of advising on the implementation of directive documents and work assignments of the District People's Committee and superior agencies. The locality also organized a review of relevant collectives and individuals for allowing the shortcomings pointed out by the inspection team to occur. In Quynh Luu, a number of relevant communes have organized a review, but a number of departments have not yet completed it. Regarding citizen reception, in Quynh Luu district, on the 10th and 20th of each month, the Chairman of the District People's Committee will directly chair the citizen reception session; but the assignment of a focal officer to advise the Chairman of the District People's Committee in participating in the litigation of administrative and civil cases... has not been implemented yet.

Mr. Hoang Van Bo - Chairman of Quynh Luu District People's Committee reported the content of citizens' petitions at the April 2023 citizen reception session of the Provincial People's Committee. Photo: Pham Bang

To rectify this situation, on March 27, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 2120/UBND-TD on directing the implementation of the delivery and receipt of a number of types of administrative documents serving the settlement of petitions, complaints and administrative proceedings. In particular, the Provincial People's Committee emphasized: Departments, branches, People's Committees of districts, towns and cities in the province, immediately after issuing administrative documents and administrative decisions directly related to the rights, interests, responsibilities and obligations of organizations and citizens, and these documents and decisions may be subject to complaints, denunciations and lawsuits according to the provisions of law, must organize the delivery of documents and decisions.((original) to organizations and individuals with related rights, interests, responsibilities and obligations, and at the same time, prepare a document (paper) for delivery and receipt. In case of sending by post, it must be sent by registered mail, clearly stating the time of delivery and receipt, full name and signature of the deliverer and recipient...

Obviously, the work of receiving people, resolving complaints and denunciations... is a series of activities demonstrating the regular responsibility and obligations of leaders, managers and state agencies and organizations towards the legitimate rights and interests of citizens. If these tasks are not carried out strictly and in accordance with regulations, it will greatly affect the relationship between the people and organizations and units.