"Ambiguity" in granting red books to people

Land granted without authority

Nghe An Newspaper received a petition from Mr. Nguyen Huy Tien and Mr. Nguyen Nhu Tuan (residing in Hamlet 4, Nghi Truong Commune, Nghi Loc District). In the petition, these two men stated that in Hamlet 4 there was a plot of land that the hamlet and commune had assigned to households to grow forestry trees since 1987.

In 1997, the family of Nguyen Dinh Truong and Nguyen Thi Han built a house on the land that had been divided among 4 households to grow trees without permission from the local government. This land was not zoned for residential use, so there was no auction or price determination for the land.

Nghe An Newspaper reporter talks with Mr. Nguyen Huy Tuan. Photo: Tien Hung

“In 2006, the commune’s land was re-surveyed according to a new map to issue new land use right certificates. Mr. Truong’s land plot was not on the list of lands to be surveyed.

In 2011, Mr. Truong demolished his house and built it in his parents' garden, but for unknown reasons, in 2014, the above plot of land was still granted a land use rights certificate," the petition of the two men stated.

The land plot was granted a land use right certificate by Nghi Loc District People's Committee to Mr. Truong's family in 2014. Photo: Pham Bang

According to the reporter's observation, the land plot that Mr. Tuan and Mr. Tien mentioned is located in an area adjacent to fertile land and casuarina trees of the people of hamlet 4. Currently, the land plot is vacant, the concrete piles have been removed. In December 2014, the Nghi Loc District People's Committee granted a certificate of land use rights, house ownership rights and assets attached to the land to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truong and Ms. Nguyen Thi Han, address hamlet 4, Nghi Truong commune, Nghi Loc district.

The land plot has lot number 196, map sheet number 5, area is 759m2, of which there are 300m2 of residential land, 459m2 of land for perennial crops. After that, Mr. Truong sold it to Mr. Thach Quang Trieu (residing in hamlet 8, Nghi Truong commune, Nghi Loc) but has not completed the name change procedure.

The land plot has concrete piles removed and is currently vacant.

By the end of September 2018, Mr. Thach Quang Trieu's family began gathering materials to build a chicken farm. Hearing the news, many people protested because they feared that building a chicken farm would affect the environment.

“Before building the farm, the people of Hamlet 4 wrote a petition to the Chairman of Nghi Truong Commune People's Committee but there was no response. Afterwards, Mr. Trieu brought a leveling machine to that plot of land and also encroached on the adjacent land of households that were planting trees. The total area that Mr. Trieu leveled and built a fence was nearly 1,200 square meters, while the red book only had 795 square meters,” said Mr. Tuan.

Mr. Dang Tho An - the head of hamlet 4 also admitted that he signed the minutes made by the land officer after the actual measurement of Mr. Trieu's land plot. According to the minutes, the area Mr. Trieu used was several hundred square meters more.

The land plot that Mr. Trieu's family bought from Mr. Truong and a lawsuit occurred. Photo: Pham Bang

Mr. Nguyen Duy Chau - Vice Chairman of Nghi Truong Commune People's Committee affirmed that in the past, Mr. Truong and his wife illegally set up stakes in the above area. Therefore, in 2006, Mr. Truong's land was not measured from map 299 to the new map to issue a new land use right certificate. However, according to the reporter's investigation, in 1997, Nghi Truong Commune People's Committee illegally granted land to Mr. Nguyen Van Truong's family for the purpose of granting land for separate households. Receipt No. 85 dated June 30, 1997 shows that Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truong paid 450,000 VND to the commune. This is the reason why, although he has lived there since 1997, it was not until 2014 that Mr. Truong's family was granted a red book for the above land.

There are many irregularities

However, when reviewing the documents to issue a land use right certificate for Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truong and his wife, there were many issues worth mentioning. The minutes determining the boundaries and landmarks of the land plot; Minutes of appraisal for granting land use right certificates; Submission on granting land use right certificates to households and individuals; Notice on public announcement of the results of considering granting land use right certificates by the Commune Land Registration Council; Minutes of public announcement made by the People's Committee of Nghi Truong Commune showed signs of editing.

Specifically, these documents showed signs of being edited from April 2012 to June 2014. After reviewing the records, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Linh - Director of the Nghi Loc District Land Use Registration Office confirmed that there was indeed an edit and said that the commune had taken the old records from April 2012 and then edited them to June 2014 to request a land use right certificate for Mr. Truong's family.

According to the reporter's investigation, the land plot of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truong was granted a Land Use Right Certificate by Nghi Loc District People's Committee based on Decision 46/QD-UBND dated August 21, 2013 of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee for cases of land allocation without proper authority for housing construction before July 1, 2004. However, comparing with Decision 46/2013, it can be seen that the procedural file to grant a Land Use Right Certificate to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truong's family, provided by Mr. Nguyen Dinh Linh - Director of Nghi Loc District Land Use Right Registration Office to the reporter, has many shortcomings and ambiguities. Specifically, in the file, there is no application for a Land Use Right Certificate; field land handover minutes or decision to allocate land to Mr. Truong's family.

At the same time, Nghi Truong Commune People's Committee has not yet collected written opinions from households, individuals living nearby, hamlet officials and those directly related to the land allocation to Nguyen Dinh Truong's family in 1997 as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 12, Decision 46/2013.

In the minutes, the Commune People's Committee was ambiguous, did not clearly identify the origin, organization of land allocation and the specific time of land allocation to Mr. Truong's family according to Point c, Clause 1, Article 12 of Decision 46/2013. In the minutes determining the boundary and boundary markers of the land plot, the adjacent household signed the border, there were 2 names but the handwriting looked similar, in which one person was Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truong's biological father.

In reality, the land plot granted to Mr. Truong's family has 3 sides bordering forestry land managed by the Commune People's Committee, 1 side bordering the village road, and none of the sides bordering residential land. According to the people, before Mr. Truong's family moved here, the land plot was also forestry land, mainly planted with casuarina trees.

What is even more ironic is that the Nghi Truong Commune Land Registration Council relied on expired regulations to propose granting a Land Use Right Certificate to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truong's family. Specifically, in the Minutes of the Commune Land Registration Council meeting on June 3, 2014, it was concluded that Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truong and Ms. Nguyen Thi Han were eligible to be granted a Land Use Right Certificate according to Article 50 of the Land Law and Article 3, Decision 146/2007/QD.UB dated December 19, 2007 and Decision 111/QD-UBND dated December 26, 2008 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province. However, by June 2014, the above two decisions had expired and were replaced by Decision 10/2013/QD-UBND dated January 22, 2013 of the Provincial People's Committee on granting Certificates of land use rights, house ownership rights and other assets attached to land to households and individuals using land in Nghe An province. In addition, the fact that Nghi Truong Commune People's Committee publicly announced the results of considering granting Land Use Rights Certificates by the Commune Land Registration Council is not sufficient.

It is known that after receiving the citizen's petition, Nghi Loc District People's Committee transferred the petition to Nghi Truong Commune People's Committee for settlement according to its authority. After many visits to the Commune People's Committee headquarters to meet Nghi Truong Commune Chairman Nguyen Dinh Thong to clarify the contents of the petition as well as the dossier to issue a land use right certificate to Nguyen Dinh Truong's family, all were unsuccessful, with the reason being that the commune is still verifying and clarifying.