Struggling to find a way to handle the case of people losing their houses and land because they are far from their hometown

Confused about the consequences

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dinh - Vice Chairman of Quynh Luu District People's Committee said that the district has received the document.land origin verification reportby citizen Tran Ba ​​Dinh from the People's Committee of An Hoa commune. However, this report still has many unclear details.

“After receiving the report, we asked the commune to continue verifying because there were some contradictions and ambiguities,” Mr. Dinh said, adding that when the People’s Committee of An Hoa commune has a report clarifying more about Mr. Tran Ba ​​Dinh’s land plot, the district will come up with a plan to proceed with the next steps.

Explaining the delay in handling the matter despite the fact that citizens have had a series of complaintscomplaint from many years ago, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang - Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Quynh Luu district said that the reason is partly due to the complicated nature of the case, while there is no mechanism to handle it. "We also have a headache because there is no clear mechanism to handle it, not because it causes any difficulties for citizens", Mr. Thang said and informed that he is the person assigned to monitor this case over the past years.

According to Mr. Thang, the An Hoa Commune People's Committee's decision to reclaim Mr. Dinh's land to expand the kindergarten campus stemmed from pressure to build a new rural area and from voters' opinions. The purpose of the clearance was good, but the method was hasty.

“After receiving Mr. Tran Ba ​​Dinh’s complaint, we held many meetings, but when discussing how to remedy the consequences, we got stuck on the mechanism and authority,” Mr. Thang said, adding that initially, the People’s Committee of Quynh Luu district planned to handle the matter according to the instructions in Decision No. 28 of the People’s Committee of Nghe An province.

“The district has also handled the consequences of some cases where the commune exchanged land for people according to Decision No. 28. Accordingly, a verification team will be established, inspected, concluded, and then the land will be exchanged for the people. However, Mr. Dinh's case is still stuck. That is, the land exchange has not been completed, the land exchange agreement was signed by the commune with the person Mr. Dinh asked to look after, not the land exchange agreement with the user. In addition, there is only a temporary exchange agreement to the adjacent land lot waiting to find another location, but the specific destination has not been determined. Therefore, when we received Mr. Dinh's request for land compensation for resettlement, there was no mechanism to resolve it, so we were also confused,” Mr. Thang said, adding that after receiving instructions fromChairman of the Provincial People's Committee at the citizen reception sessionIn August 2023, the district and the People's Committee of An Hoa commune also held many meetings to find a solution.

Accordingly, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district plans to establish a project, issue a decision to reclaim land and then compensate for resettlement land for Mr. Dinh. "To resolve this issue, the Provincial People's Council must issue a Resolution allowing land reclamation, then submit the plan to the Provincial People's Committee for approval, only then can the reclamation and compensation for resettlement be made for Mr. Dinh. But the problem here is what project to establish to reclaim land so that the Provincial People's Council can approve it," said Mr. Thang.

According to Mr. Thang, initially, Quynh Luu district considered establishing a project to expand the kindergarten to reclaim Mr. Dinh's land to have a basis for compensation, but later it was not possible because this land is currently located within the traffic safety corridor.

“It is impossible to expand the kindergarten to the land of the traffic safety corridor. So after that, we continued to discuss the project of clearing the land to expand the traffic route. We also sent a document asking for opinions from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment as well as the Department of Transport. But this project could not be implemented because the responsibility of managing the traffic route belongs to the Department of Transport, in addition, there is no mechanism, and the source of capital could not be determined,” Mr. Thang said, adding that the case began to fall into a deadlock.

Quynh Luu District People's Committee then had to consider the option of returning the land that An Hoa Commune People's Committee had confiscated from Mr. Tran Ba ​​Dinh.

“In principle, whoever does it must be responsible. If the commune wrongly recovers the land, it must be returned. Previously, I also proposed a solution of compensation, but the An Hoa Commune People's Committee said it was difficult because there was no source. Therefore, the final solution was to return the recovered land. But when the district came down to check the documents to return the land, there were some unclear details and a lack of legal basis. So the district People's Committee sent a document requesting the commune to verify the origin of the land. But the commune was slow to process the matter, just waiting for the district,” said Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang.

Still can't finish

After many urging documents from the District People's Committee,October 16,The People's Committee of An Hoa Commune has issued a document reporting the results of verifying the origin of this land plot. Accordingly, the People's Committee of An Hoa Commune confirmed that in 1996, it had assigned Mr. Dinh a 100m2 land plot, after collecting 2 million VND and paying it into the budget...

Regarding the handling in case the An Hoa Commune People's Committee reports that Mr. Dinh's land plot has a legal origin, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang said that the district is requesting the Commune People's Committee to resolve two issues. That is the matter of determining the value of Mr. Dinh's property that has been demolished. The An Hoa Commune People's Committee must negotiate with Mr. Dinh to compensate. If no agreement is reached, the district will instruct Mr. Dinh to file a lawsuit in court.

“The second issue is to clearly determine whether the expansion of the previous kindergarten has affected Mr. Dinh’s land. That is, is Mr. Dinh’s 100 square meters of land currently located inside the kindergarten grounds or outside the fence? If it is outside the fence, it must be restored and re-marked to return it to Mr. Dinh. If it is located inside the school grounds and cannot be cleared to return it to Mr. Dinh, it must be reported to the Provincial People’s Committee for a mechanism to compensate the State in cash,” Mr. Thang said.

Previously, as Nghe An Newspaper reportedmany articles, because his parents separated and remarried, Mr. Tran Ba ​​Dinh (55 years old) had to live with his grandparents since birth. In 1996, after leaving the army and returning to his hometown, his grandparents had passed away, and he had no place to live, Mr. Dinh spent 2 million VND to buy a 100m2 plot of land from the People's Committee of An Hoa commune to live and work as a barber. Not long after, because of difficulties at work, Mr. Dinh went to the South to work for hire, leaving the house and land to his cousin, Mr. Vo Ngoc Hung, to look after. In 2017, the People's Committee of An Hoa commune did not notify Mr. Dinh but still asked Mr. Hung to demolish the house and reclaim the land to expand the kindergarten campus. At that time, between Mr. Hung and the People's Committee of the commune, there was a record of agreement to "exchange the land to another location".

However, the local government did not grant the land as agreed. In 2019, when he returned to his hometown after many years, Mr. Dinh was shocked to find that his house was gone and his land had been cleared. Since then, he has written dozens of complaints but they have not been resolved.