There are still many doubts about the authority to settle land disputes

(PLO)- Many concerns regarding the authority to settle land disputes in the draft Land Law (amended) are being consulted by the Government.

On the morning of February 15, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front held a conference to collect comments on the draft Land Law (amended) in the southern provinces and cities and Ho Chi Minh City.

LS Nguyen Van Hau commented on Article 225 as the draft law stipulating the jurisdiction of land disputes in the direction of transferring the whole thing to the People’s Court for settlement. According to him, this is the mentality of “if you can’t do it, push it through the court”.

Hau put the point of view, it is necessary to stick to the Resolution 18/2022 of the Central Committee of the Party on land, which clearly states the motto “to thoroughly settle disputes over land from the grassroots, to avoid passing the level to the Central Government”. . Therefore, he said that the revised draft in the direction of removing the authority to settle land disputes of the People’s Committee has narrowed down the rights of the people, removed a settlement mechanism that is flexible and has its own preeminence. .

Professor Nguyen Van Hau gave comments at the conference. Photo: TT

Land is an extremely complex subject, so only assigning dispute settlement authority to the People’s Court will cause congestion, prolonging the time to settle disputes over land, while the case might have ended right from the working sessions at the People’s Committee.

Therefore, LS Hau proposed to give the People’s Committee the authority to resolve the dispute because the file is being kept at the administrative agency. Thus, the procedure is also simpler and people do not need to pay a court fee of 5% on the value of the disputed property like when going to court.

From another point of view, Doctor To Van Trung stated that if the authority is delegated to the People’s Committee, the advantage is that the problem is solved faster and can issue pink books to the people. However, if the People’s Committee cannot resolve the matter, the matter must still be brought to court.

Article 226 of the new draft law stipulates that the court and the People’s Committee both have the authority to settle complaints and lawsuits regarding land. LS Trung suggested that this matter be handed over to the court.

According to Lawyer Trung, the trial at the court will create conditions for people to have a direct dialogue with the administrative decision maker. The court also has a conciliation law, when two parties have a common voice, it can shorten the settlement time.

According to him, the current law stipulates that if people do not agree with the decision on land acquisition, people can complain and complain to the People’s Committee of the district or province up to two times. If they continue to disagree, the lawsuit will be taken to court. In fact, many administrative complaints through the People’s Committee are not resolved on time, so the case is prolonged. There are cases where the People’s Committee has issued a decision but the court has canceled it.

“Therefore, eliminating complaints through People’s Committees at all levels is in line with international development trends,” he said.

Commenting from the perspective of the government, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Van Bay said that the dispute settlement authority belongs to the judiciary, not the administration.

According to him, the court currently has a very good “pre-litigation” process, which is an effective channel for conciliation and dialogue.

Therefore, without worrying regarding the People’s Court handling, they do not understand the management of land, because the system of records and land data has been much improved compared to before.

“We have to start from the principle of organizing the State apparatus to assign and assign tasks between agencies to calculate who to assign to solve for “heart and speech”, especially complaints” – Mr. Tran Van Bay emphasized.

Mr. Bay also pointed out another limitation of the draft law, which is the ambiguity in the division of general jurisdiction, especially when settling land disputes, which has great consequences.

Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Van Bay expressed his opinion from the perspective of the government. Photo: TT

The current draft law has very little authority of the Chairman of the People’s Committee, but most of it is shared in general, leading to the perception that all are collective responsibilities.

For example, according to regulations, the authority to issue a certificate of land use right belongs to the People’s Committee. However, the collective People’s Committee meets once a week, so only important policies are discussed, and specific and special issues are handled by the Chairman of the People’s Committee. When the People’s Committee was sued to court, the matter became a collective responsibility, and the prosecution agency also checked to see if there were any minutes of the People’s Committee meeting to discuss the case.

Therefore, he suggested that the Law on Land should be reviewed to clearly distinguish the authority of each level and of the head.

Need to pay more attention to resettlement

The workshop also noted opinions on compensation, support and resettlement when the State recovers land.

LS Hau said that at present, there are no specific criteria for granting resettlement, as it is not specified how many days before the land is acquired, the resettlement site must be completed, if not completed, an alternative compensation plan must be provided. Meanwhile, Resolution 18 has stated that the entire plan must be approved first before proceeding with land acquisition.

In addition, it is necessary to regulate the maximum time people live in the resettlement area to avoid temporary living in the real estate.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Tuyen, Dean of the Faculty of Economic Law, Hanoi Law University, said that the regulations on land acquisition, compensation and support for resettlement must harmonize the interests of the state and the people who are confiscated. land acquisition and investors. However, not all localities are resolved in a harmonious way. People whose land has been acquired, especially farmers, are often the one who suffers more when the state acquires land. According to him, it is necessary to clearly define the resettlement area, which must have equal or better development conditions than the old residence.

9 key issues to be consulted in the draft Land Law (amended)

(PLO)- In Resolution No. 170, the Government raised 9 key issues that need to be consulted by the People on the draft Land Law (amended).

THANH THUY