Improve capacity and responsibility of grassroots land management staff

(Baonghean) - In recent years, the situation of complaints, denunciations, and disputes over land in the province has been quite complicated. There have been cases showing that the issue of discipline and order in land management and use is not strict, the role of state management of land is still limited, especially at the grassroots level...

Since the Land Law of 1993, 2003, now the Land Law of 2013, the work of land management at the grassroots level has had many remarkable changes. Land management work has been increasingly improved, the handling and overcoming of previous shortcomings has been of concern to authorities at all levels. However, to completely resolve the shortcomings left by history is a difficult and complicated problem.

Officers of the Vinh City Land Use Rights Registration Office perform duties at the One-Stop Transaction Center.

The most obvious manifestation is that during the implementation of the National Highway 1A site clearance, many land violations were clarified by the authorities. That is the issuance of red books within the PMU1 boundary in the period of 1995 - 2000 in Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu districts... violating the planning and regulations in Article 7, Decree No. 203-HDBT dated December 21, 1982 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government) on the promulgation of the Road Protection Regulations.

Also in the process of implementing the land clearance of National Highway 1A, the authorities have gradually clarified the illegal sale, granting, leasing and borrowing of land to 22 households of the Brick Factory in Mai Hung Ward (Hoang Mai Town). Or the incident of the Tea Factory in Hamlet 14, Nghi Kim Commune, which borrowed land from the commune since 1987 for households participating in service business. Over time, these households have built solid houses, and when the State reclaimed the land, they requested 100% compensation for the value of the property on the land. Or in Nghi Yen Commune (Nghi Loc), Nghi Lien (Vinh City), there are dozens of tents built within the boundary of PMU1...

Regarding land management, in recent years, Nghe An Newspaper has published articles reflecting extremely inadequate situations such as illegal construction of houses and other structures on farmland and agricultural land; illegal use of dike corridors; encroachment on forestry land; in addition, it has handled many cases of complaints and denunciations about land issues... And, one of the main causes leading to these problems is related to local authorities at the grassroots level, not paying due attention to land management.

It is known that before the 2013 Land Law came into effect, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment consulted on summarizing and evaluating the implementation of the 2003 Land Law in the province, thereby clearly identifying the shortcomings and inadequacies. That is, the state management of land is still limited; the enforcement of discipline and order in land management and use is not strict; the situation of complaints, denunciations and disputes over land is still complicated; administrative procedures on land are still cumbersome, the settlement time is prolonged; some localities have also prescribed additional procedures and documents, not providing complete and timely information to the people; the situation of land allocation beyond authority, land allocation to the wrong subjects and not according to planning still occurs in some localities; in some places, the situation of transferring agricultural land use rights to change the land use purpose to housing, causing political and social instability; the situation of land encroachment still occurs in some localities...

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment has pointed out the causes of these shortcomings. The main reason is that some local authorities have not really paid attention to and invested properly in land management. A number of officials working in land management at the commune level are weak in capacity, and some individuals even lack public ethics, leading to violations. In August 2014, at an online conference with the district level, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment held a special topic "Guidance on state management of land at the commune level", which pointed out the shortcomings and basic causes. And to gradually overcome these shortcomings, this special topic disseminated some contents in state management of land at the commune level, clearly stating the roles and responsibilities of land officials and Chairmen of People's Committees at the commune level. In land management, the role of grassroots authorities is extremely important. Accordingly, the 2013 Land Law clearly stipulates the roles and responsibilities of communal land officials and commune-level People's Committee Chairmen. When the 2013 Land Law comes into effect, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment determines that it must pay attention to and fully guide the provisions of the law to land management officials at the grassroots level, so that they can have a correct understanding of the provisions of the law, improve their capacity, and demonstrate their roles and responsibilities.

In fact, to do a good job of land management, in addition to the provisions of the law, it is important to have people to advise and implement. In September 2014, Nghe An Newspaper continued to receive petitions from citizens. The complaint content in commune V, district Y occurred a situation where some people illegally occupied agricultural land to build houses. After verification, the complaint was well-founded and district Y also directed relevant departments and offices to clarify. According to Nghe An Newspaper's own investigation, these households were instructed by the commune government to prepare documents to be granted land use right certificates by competent agencies. And the land officials and commune leaders admitted that the commune's confirmation on the application for land use right certificates was not sufficient...

Giving such an example shows that the role of cadres doing advisory and management work on land issues, especially cadastral officers at commune and ward levels, and commune-level People's Committee Chairmen, is very important. To have land management cadres who are both red, professional, dedicated and visionary, the entire political system from the province to the grassroots level needs to pay attention and participate.

Article and photos:Ha Giang