The act of illegally building a hut on Khe Tro hill production forest land within the tourism planning area of Che Island, Thanh An commune, to conduct tourism business was reported by Nghe An Newspaper on June 4, 2023 in the article "When huts "sprout" on Che Island". In recent days, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district has consecutively issued two decisions to handle administrative violations against individuals who committed violations.
The first decision was issued by the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district on July 11, 2023. The decision clearly states that, based on the Administrative Violation Record No. 02/BB-VPHC of the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district, established by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment on July 3, 2023, and the related records and documents attached, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district decided to impose an administrative penalty on Mr. NSHG because he committed an administrative violation by arbitrarily changing the purpose of using production forest land, which is planted forest, to another purpose in the agricultural land group (converting to other agricultural land) without permission from a competent State agency.
Specifically, Mr. NSHG built 3 greenhouse-type structures for agricultural production (to grow strawberries) on production forest land, on plot number 407, map sheet number 01 (the plot of land that Mr. NSHG received from Mr. Tran Xuan Cuong's household, old village 2, now An Ngoc village, Thanh An commune); the area of illegal purpose change is 78.61m2.2.
For this violation, based on the provisions of Point a, Clause 1, Article 10 of Decree No. 91/2019/ND-CP, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee imposed a fine on Mr. NSHG and forced him to pay back the illegal profits gained from committing the administrative violation; the total fine is 4,003,545 VND. In addition, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee forced Mr. NSHG to restore the original state of the land before the violation. Specifically, he must dismantle and clear all 3 illegally built structures, restore the state of the production forest land as before the violation at land plot No. 407, map sheet No. 01, in Khe Tro hill area, An Ngoc village, Thanh An commune. The deadline for implementing remedial measures is 90 days from the date of receipt of the decision. If Mr. NSHG does not voluntarily comply, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee will enforce it according to the provisions of law.
The second decision was issued by the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district on July 14. Here, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district forced Mr. NSHG to take remedial measures for his administrative violations as prescribed in Point b, Clause 02, Article 10 of Decree No. 91/2019/ND-CP of the Government regulating administrative sanctions in the field of land. Mr. NSHG's violation was to arbitrarily change the purpose of using production forest land to non-agricultural land without permission from the competent state agency. Specifically, he built 5 homestay-style huts with an area of 185.8m2.2on production forest land is planted forest belonging to plot number 629, map sheet number 01, Khe Tro hill, An Ngoc village, Thanh An commune.
For this violation, because the time limit for issuing a penalty decision as prescribed in Point c, Clause 1, Article 65 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations has expired, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district did not impose an administrative penalty, but only forced Mr. NSHG to restore the original state of the land before it was changed due to the administrative violation. Specifically, all 5 structures on the land must be dismantled and cleared; the production forest land must be restored to the planted forest on plot No. 629, map sheet No. 01, Khe Tro hill, An Ngoc village, Thanh An commune. The time limit for dismantling and clearing is 90 days from the date of receipt of the Decision; if after the prescribed time limit Mr. NSHG does not voluntarily comply, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district will enforce it in accordance with the provisions of law.
Regarding Mr. NSHG's illegal construction of a hut on Khe Tro hill production forest land, it was discovered and handled by Thanh An commune authorities on June 11, 2022. However, due to the lack of determination of the commune authorities and their failure to thoroughly handle the case, allowing Mr. NSHG to repeat the violation, from July 2022 to present, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee has had to organize 3 more inspections.
In the first inspection on July 14, 2022, on Khe Tro hill, there were 5 illegal huts built on production forest land. Immediately afterwards, on July 15, 2022, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee issued Document No. 1489/UBND-TNMT criticizing the Chairman of Thanh An Commune People's Committee. The content is as follows: "Criticize the Chairman of Thanh An Commune People's Committee for not being resolute and not taking measures to promptly prevent and handle the above violations according to regulations. Assign the Chairman of Thanh An Commune People's Committee to continue to inspect, take measures to prevent and handle the above violations according to regulations of law; absolutely do not let violators continue to commit violations".
By February 13, 2023, the Interdisciplinary Inspection Team established by the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district in Decision No. 308/QD-UBND discovered that Khe Tro hill had 12 illegal constructions on production forest land. Then, the responsibility of the local government was clearly stated in the report sent to the District People's Committee: "For the case of NSHG citizens arbitrarily constructing illegal constructions on forestry land in Khe Tro, Thanh An commune, the responsibility belongs to the People's Committee of the commune, the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune and the Land Officer of Thanh An commune, for not complying with the provisions of Clause 2, Article 208 of the Land Law, specifically: Not applying measures to prevent and promptly handle the construction of constructions on land used for the wrong purpose in the locality".
However, Mr. NSHG continued to repeat the violation on Khe Tro hill, while the Thanh An commune government did not promptly detect and prevent it, leading to the Thanh Chuong District People's Committee having to organize another inspection on July 3, 2023. And in this inspection, it was discovered that Mr. NSHG had built 3 more greenhouses "to grow strawberries" on production forest land.
In the article "When the hut "spontaneously grows" on Che Island", Nghe An Newspaper reported that on May 25, 2023, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee issued Document No. 1062/UBND-TNMT reporting to the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee on the case of illegal construction on Khe Tro Hill, Thanh An Commune. In Document No. 1062/UBND-TNMT, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee reported on directing Thanh An Commune People's Committee to review and clarify the responsibilities of relevant collectives and individuals for the existing problems and violations; at the same time, assign the Department of Internal Affairs to advise the District People's Committee to handle the responsibilities of relevant collectives and individuals for the existing problems and violations.
On July 19, going up to Dao Che to inspect the scene of the illegal construction of a new project discovered and handled by Thanh Thinh Commune People's Committee, grasping the information, it was known that the Party Committee and the Thanh An Commune government had organized a review, clarifying the responsibilities of the relevant collectives and individuals. At the same time, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee also issued a decision to discipline two individuals, including the Chairman of the People's Committee and the land official of Thanh An Commune, with the form of disciplinary reprimand. Connecting with Mr. Nguyen Cao Thanh - Head of the Department of Internal Affairs of Thanh Chuong District, this information was confirmed.
Mr. Nguyen Cao Thanh said: “In response to the incident in Thanh An commune, the Department of Internal Affairs advised the District People's Committee to establish a Disciplinary Council. The Disciplinary Council met, and then the District People's Committee issued a decision to discipline the Chairman of the People's Committee and the cadastral officer of Thanh An commune. The Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh An commune is a party member managed by the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee, so the District People's Committee will also report to the District Party Committee, so that the District Party Committee can consider taking disciplinary action in accordance with Party regulations...”.