Early agreement on direction for handling violations in buying, selling and using forest land

(Baonghean) - After more than 2 months of implementing the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, although statistics on the area of ​​forestry land and forest land illegally bought, sold, and transferred are available, they are still incomplete; and how to handle it is still a big question...

Difficult to review

Implementing Official Dispatch 5037 of the Provincial People's Committee and the tasks assigned by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, since the end of July 2016, the Forest Protection Department has directed the Forest Protection Units to coordinate with departments of districts and cities to review and count the area of ​​illegally transferred forestry land and forest land. On that basis, on September 1, 2016, the Forest Protection Department issued Official Dispatch No. 663/CCKL-SDR reporting to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on the implementation results.

Illegal buying, selling and transferring is mainly concentrated in Que Phong and Quy Chau districts... With illegal use, concentrated in Nghia Dan district. And in 13 districts and towns that have conducted reviews and reported results, 4 districts of Nam Dan, Tan Ky, Quy Hop and Cua Lo town have no illegal buying, selling, transferring or misuse of forestry land and forest land.

After being transferred, the remaining forest land was planted with acacia.

However, the above results (reported to the Provincial People's Committee) were determined to be only initial screening data, not guaranteed to be accurate. According to the representative of the Forest Protection Department, the reason was that the screening work encountered many difficulties; households that carried out the transfer and the transferees did not voluntarily declare; even when inspected by the authorities, they tried to avoid, did not cooperate, or justified the illegal transfer by renting land, cooperating in economic activities, or even "mortgaging"...

In reality, the screening data of some localities that the Forestry Department has collected is "skewed" compared to the data of other agencies.

For example, in the two districts of Nam Dan and Tan Ky, the Forest Protection Department determined that there was no illegal buying, selling or transferring, but according to documents collected by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, this problem exists. Specifically, in Tan Ky district, there were 36 cases of transferring production forest land assigned according to Decree 163; and in Nam Dan district, there were 76 cases of transferring production forest land assigned by the state with forest registers and other documents... In addition, in districts such as Tuong Duong and Quy Hop, although the province's Official Dispatch 5037 stated that illegal buying, selling and transferring occurred, up to now, these localities have not yet determined which areas it occurred in...

There is no sanction for violations.

According to the explanation of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the situation of forest land and forestry land being illegally bought, sold, transferred and used for the wrong purpose is mainly a violation in the land sector; there is no illegal buying, selling, transferring or using of forests. Meanwhile, the authority of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development only handles or advises on handling violations of the law in the field of illegal buying, selling, exploiting and transferring of forests.

Therefore, in Official Dispatch No. 2299/SNN.KL dated September 14, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed that the Provincial People's Committee assign the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to advise the province to handle the situation of illegal land purchase, transfer and misuse of forestry land; at the same time, continue to direct localities with forests to review and count the entire area of ​​forests and forestry land that has been allocated land, leased land, contracted land; allocated forests, leased forests, contracted forests for purchase, transfer and misuse.

In addition, the Provincial People's Committee is requested to assign localities with forests to consider temporarily suspending the allocation and leasing of natural forests to households and individuals; and the purchase, sale and transfer of forests and forestry land to focus on reviewing and handling violations.

In many places, after forest land was illegally transferred, the transferees hired people to prune trees, impoverishing the forest.

Meanwhile, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has determined that the transfer of forest land and forestry land in the province at that time had many points that were not in accordance with the provisions of the law.

These are receiving the transfer of forestry land use rights exceeding the limit for households according to the provisions of the Land Law; using land and conducting transactions on land use rights without registering with competent state agencies; receiving the transfer of natural forest land not in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Forest Protection and Development; using the wrong purpose after receiving the transfer without permission from competent agencies. Using land not in accordance with planning for the purposes of production, business, trade services, mineral exploitation, etc.

However, in Official Dispatch No. 4641/STNMT-QLDD dated August 26, 2016 sent to districts, cities, and towns, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has not yet proposed any sanctions; but only requested to focus on disseminating legal regulations; strengthening state management of forests and forestry land; strictly implementing the direction of the Provincial People's Committee in Official Dispatch No. 5037; taking measures to prevent and handle cases of illegal trading and transfer of forest land and forestry land; or for cases showing signs of criminal violations, transfer the case file to the police investigation agency for handling according to regulations...

Meanwhile, for localities with forest land and forestry land, it is necessary to have direction and guidance from departments, branches and the province to handle cases of illegal buying, selling, transferring and misuse of forestry land and forest land.

For example, in Que Phong district, it has been determined that 184 households have illegally transferred over 1,859 hectares of forestry land and forest land but have not been able to resolve the issue. From May 2016 to now, the People's Committee of Que Phong district has sent documents to the Provincial People's Committee and departments at least twice to ask for direction and guidance, but has not received any response (there are only opinions of a reference nature from the Department of Justice).

Let's ask the question, what is the set of solutions to effectively handle and resolve the problem of law violations in the purchase, transfer and use of forestry land and forest land? According to the leaders of the two Departments of Natural Resources and Environment and Agriculture and Rural Development, in the immediate future, the two departments will continue to work with districts, cities and towns to focus on implementing the contents of the Provincial People's Committee's direction in Official Dispatch 5037. In addition, the Provincial People's Committee will be requested to convene a meeting with the participation of relevant departments and localities with forests to propose solutions, especially sanctions for violations.

In many places, forest land after being illegally transferred, The subjects brought small wood to burn and sell charcoal.

Ha Giang