Despite holding the title of forest ranger, they have no authority to impose penalties.
Forest rangers and heads of special-use forest ranger districts have the authority to impose administrative penalties for violations (*). Yet, there are still people who bear the title of forest ranger but do not have the authority to impose penalties. This is what happens in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park.
Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park Management Board is currently responsible for managing 116,824 hectares of special-use forest. Illegal logging in the buffer zone and the hunting and trapping of wild animals are quite common and complex.
According to Article 79 of the Law on Forest Protection and Development and Decree No. 119/2006/ND-CP dated October 16, 2006, on the organization and operation of forest rangers: Forest rangers are a specialized state force with the function of protecting forests. Forest rangers, including those in special-use forests, are civil servants with the authority to impose administrative penalties and apply preventive measures. The head of a special-use forest ranger unit has the right to initiate criminal proceedings and investigations against acts violating the law on forest management and protection.
The law stipulates otherwise, yet currently, the forest ranger unit under the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park Management Board has 125 civil servants who are "dressed as forest rangers" but not a single administrative civil servant. The reason is that when it was first established, due to the lack of administrative civil servant positions, the Quang Binh Provincial People's Committee had to temporarily allocate civil servant positions (under the authority of the provincial People's Committee) to the Phong Nha - Ke Bang Forest Ranger Unit to protect the forest. Since then, the number of administrative civil servant positions allocated to Quang Binh province by the Ministry of Interior has been minimal each year, only a few positions per year. Even the Provincial Forest Protection Department still lacks 124 positions compared to the prescribed quota.
According to the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants (now a separate Law on Public Employees) and other legal documents, public employees do not have the function of carrying out state management activities and do not have the authority to impose administrative penalties.
Currently, Decree No. 117/2010/ND-CP dated December 24, 2010, on the organization and management of special-use forests (effective March 1, 2011) continues to stipulate that "a maximum of one forest ranger is allocated for every 500 hectares of special-use forest." Therefore, with the management of 116,824 hectares of protection forest, the Phong Nha - Ke Bang Forest Ranger Station must be allocated 233 forest rangers. This staffing quota is clearly stipulated by law and must be implemented by the competent authorities; it cannot be granted through a request-and-grant mechanism.
To protect the special-use forest system in the Phong Nha - Ke Bang biodiversity conservation area, a World Natural Heritage site, the Ministry of Interior needs to seriously implement legal regulations to advise the Government to allocate sufficient forest ranger civil servant positions according to the prescribed quota to Quang Binh province for assignment to the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park Management Board.
Penalties are imposed according to a separate procedure. |
According to Tuoi Tre newspaper
