Hoang Hoa Tham Commune: Leasing public land for construction material wharf: Violation from village to commune

Over the past years, more than 1,300 ^square meters of public land in An Dam village, Hoang Hoa Tham commune (An Thi) has been leased and used by the village leaders and the commune People's Committee in violation of regulations, affecting local land management.

The public land area in An Dam village was leased by the People's Committee of Hoang Hoa Tham commune to households as a construction material yard. Photo taken on May 25, 2023

Village arbitrarily leases land for construction material yard
Recently, some citizens in An Dam village, Hoang Hoa Tham commune (An Thi) reported violations by village leaders in land use, financial management and lax management by commune leaders from 2010-2019, including the commune and An Dam village leasing agricultural land for public purposes (public land) as a construction material yard in violation of regulations.

In the Dam field area of An Dam village, there has long been an illegal construction material yard, with trucks coming in and out and excavators operating regularly. It is worth mentioning that the land used as the yard is public land of the commune, which An Dam village and the commune leased out illegally. It is known that on February 3, 2016, representatives of An Dam village (party A) including Mr. and Mrs. Phi Van Pha, Village Chief; Pham Thi Thoi, Deputy Village Chief; Phi Thanh Ngai, People's Inspector, along with heads of some village mass organizations and party B including Mr. Phi Van Dong and Ms. Dinh Thi Thuy signed a contract to lease the yard to store materials. The content of the contract assigned Mr. Phi Van Dong and Ms. Dinh Thi Thuy to lease an area of 1,340 m2 of public land as a yard to store construction materials, for a period of 7 years, from February 9, 2016 to February 8, 2023. Payment in cash with a total amount of 385 million VND, of which 35 million VND is for building the village volleyball court, and the remaining 350 million VND is paid to the village.

Since renting the above public land area, Mr. Phi Van Dong has renovated, leveled, and built a yard to store and gather construction materials such as sand, bricks, and stones. The yard operates illegally, uses the land for the wrong purpose, pollutes the environment, affects traffic safety, etc., causing local people to be upset.

Although the village has no authority to lease public land, the village leader still leases land without authority. On the other hand, the area of public land leased is not used for the right purpose. Article 132 of the 2013 Land Law stipulates: For the area of agricultural land used for public purposes but not used for the purposes specified in Clause 2 of this Article, the People's Committee at the commune level shall lease it to local households and individuals for agricultural production and aquaculture through auction. The land use term for each lease shall not exceed 5 years. The proceeds from the lease of land belonging to the agricultural land fund used for public purposes must be paid into the state budget managed by the People's Committee at the commune level and may only be used for the public needs of the commune, ward or town in accordance with the provisions of law. Agricultural land funds used for public purposes of communes, wards and towns are managed and used by the People's Committee of the commune where the land is located according to the planning and land use plan approved by competent state agencies.

The law is so clear, but some officials and leaders of An Dam village still intentionally made mistakes, signing contracts to lease public land to individual households to use as a material storage yard, which is a violation of the Land Law.

Commune leases public land in violation of regulations
The village arbitrarily violated the law while the leaders of the Commune People's Committee at that time were irresponsible, lax in management, lacked inspection and supervision, and turned a blind eye to the violations. Talking to us, Mr. Dao Dinh Quynh, former Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, said: At that time, the locality still had many difficulties, so they also created conditions for the village to have funding to build infrastructure. The Commune People's Committee requested and directed the village to only sign a 5-year contract, but the village officials arbitrarily signed a 7-year contract. We trusted our subordinates and also lacked inspection, so we did not know!

It is worth mentioning that the People's Committee of Hoang Hoa Tham commune then continued the violations of An Dam village, correcting the mistake by continuing to... make mistakes, continuing the contract to lease public land not in accordance with regulations. In response to the violations in land management and use in An Dam village, Hoang Hoa Tham commune, in 2017, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee and the People's Committee of An Thi district reviewed and handled the responsibilities of related organizations and individuals for the violations. The officials of An Dam village who violated the regulations were also handled according to regulations. At the same time, the District People's Committee requested the People's Committee of Hoang Hoa Tham commune to cancel all contracts for selling and contracting without authority and to recover all areas of selling and contracting without authority of public land managed by the People's Committee of the commune... On January 5, 2019, on behalf of the People's Committee of Hoang Hoa Tham commune, Mr. Dinh Cong Vien, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune signed an economic contract on the allocation of public land. According to the contract, the Commune People's Committee assigned Mr. Phi Van Dong to use an area of 1,430 m2 of land in the Dam field area, An Dam village, for a contract period of 5 years, from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2023; the output is 500,000 VND/sao/year, the collection amount is 2 million VND/year, the total collection amount in 5 years is 10 million VND. The time for handing over the product is once a year, no later than December 31 of each year. The purpose of use is as a construction material yard (use according to the current status of the land at the time of signing the contract). The Commune People's Committee creates conditions for the contractor to use the contracted land for the right purpose of the contract until the contract expires. Also according to this contract, there is content to cancel the illegal contract dated February 3, 2016 between An Dam village and Mr. Phi Van Dong, An Dam village according to Decision No. 106/QD-UBND dated December 21, 2016 of Hoang Hoa Tham Commune People's Committee.

Through the above, it can be seen that the People's Committee of Hoang Hoa Tham commune signed a contract to lease public land to Mr. Phi Van Dong without auction, and at the same time allowed Mr. Dong to use public land as a construction material yard, which is a violation of the provisions of the Land Law.

Despite not having a business license for the wharf and using public land for the wrong purpose for a long time, this wharf has been operating regularly since then. Even in the past, despite the province and An Thi district's determination and focus on directing the implementation of Plan No. 93a/KH-UBND dated March 31, 2017 of the Provincial People's Committee on clearing illegal constructions on agricultural land; violating the protection corridor of traffic and irrigation works and illegal wharf and sand mining activities. On May 25, 2023, according to the reporter's observation, this wharf still contained a lot of bricks, sand, stones...

It is known that from 2010 to 2019, the leaders of An Dam village as well as some officials of Hoang Hoa Tham commune committed many violations, arbitrarily leasing, contracting, and selling thousands of square meters of land without their authority; financial management had many shortcomings, violated democratic regulations, causing prolonged resentment in the community.

In addition to the above violations, local people also reported a number of violations in land management and use in Hoang Hoa Tham commune, including the leaders of the commune People's Committee illegally allocating and selling land in many areas of Thuc lagoon to a number of households; certifying for households to sign contracts to transfer land use rights in violation of regulations; allowing a number of households to build high-rise solid houses on land sold illegally.

On May 25, 2023, speaking to reporters, Mr. Truong Duc Thanh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoang Hoa Tham Commune, said: The previous violations in land management and use have been remedied by the People's Committee of the Commune. In particular, the People's Committee of the Commune has issued a Decision on the revocation and cancellation of the Land Use Rights Transfer Contract that is not in accordance with regulations between Mr. Phi Van Thang's household and Mr. Dang Van Anh's household, certified by the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the Commune. Regarding the fact that the People's Committee of the Commune signed an economic contract on the assignment of public land that is not in accordance with regulations, we will soon correct the violations and handle them according to regulations...

Faced with land violations in Hoang Hoa Tham commune, An Thi district needs to resolutely direct, inspect and clarify to have timely remedial and handling measures, at the same time review responsibilities, strictly handle collectives, individuals, and leaders who let violations occur; request the People's Committee of Hoang Hoa Tham commune to lease agricultural land for public purposes in accordance with regulations, restore order and discipline in land management and use, ensure the strictness of the law, and bring local land management into order.

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