Legal information

Problems existing in the land acquisition and demolition process include:

1. Irregular implementation entities of land acquisition and demolition work

Article 46 of the "Land Management Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Land Management Law") stipulates: "When the state expropriates land, after approval in accordance with legal procedures, the local people's government at or above the county level shall make an announcement and organize the implementation. The owner and user of the expropriated land shall, within the period specified in the announcement, go to the land administration department of the local people's government with the land ownership certificate to register for land acquisition compensation." This legal provision clearly stipulates that the implementation entity of land acquisition and demolition can only be the local people's government at or above the county level where the expropriated land is located. The land administration department of the people's government is responsible for the specific implementation.

In actual land acquisition and demolition work, this regulation is rarely implemented strictly. In most cases, the government sets up a temporary agency, some are called development zones, some are called industrial parks, and some are called support construction project headquarters, and personnel are temporarily transferred from various departments. The government hands over all land acquisition and demolition work to this agency. Some county-level governments directly entrust the land acquisition and demolition work for a certain construction project to the township-level people's government, and the land administration department does not directly participate in the organization and implementation.

Hualv.com

2. Irregular announcement of land acquisition

Land requisition announcement is a necessary procedure for land requisition. There are two types of land requisition announcements, one is the land requisition announcement, and the other is the land requisition compensation and resettlement plan announcement.

Article 4 of the "Land Requisition Announcement Measures" issued by the Ministry of Land and Resources stipulates: "The people's government of the city or county where the land is to be requisitioned shall make a land requisition announcement within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the land requisition plan approval document, and the land administration department of the city or county people's government is responsible for the specific implementation."

Article 5 stipulates: "The announcement of land requisition shall include the following contents: (1) Land requisition approval authority, approval document number, approval time and approved purpose; (2) Owner, location, land type and area of the requisitioned land; (3) Land requisition compensation standards and agricultural personnel resettlement methods; (4) Time limit and location for land requisition compensation registration." These two articles regulate the time and content of land requisition announcement.

Article 7 stipulates: “The relevant municipal and county people’s government land administration departments shall work together with relevant departments based on the approved land requisition case: within 45 days from the date of announcement of the land requisition, the land requisition compensation and resettlement plan shall be formulated and announced as a unit for the owner of the requisitioned land.”

Article 8 stipulates: The announcement of land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan shall include the following contents: (1) The location, land type, area, type and quantity of land attachments and young crops of the collective economic organization to be acquired, and the number of agricultural population to be resettled; (2) The standard and amount of land compensation fee , payment objects and payment methods; (3) standards, amounts, payment objects and payment methods of resettlement subsidies; (4) compensation standards and payment methods for ground attachments and young crops; (5) specific resettlement channels for agricultural personnel; (6) other specific measures related to land acquisition compensation and resettlement. These two regulations regulate the time and content of land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan announcements.

In actual land acquisition and demolition work, announcements are rarely made in full compliance with the requirements of laws, regulations, and rules. Some small projects have not been announced, some have made announcements but not posted them, some should have announced twice but only announced once, some announcements are incomplete, and some have issued land acquisition announcements without receiving the approval document for the land acquisition plan. Therefore, the announcement content lacks the approval authority, approval number and approval time. Land expropriation is not announced in accordance with the law, violates legal procedures, deprives landless farmers of their right to know, and will have serious consequences. According to the provisions of Article 14 of the "Measures for Announcement of Land Requisition", if the land requisition is not announced in accordance with the law, the land-expropriated rural collective economic organizations, rural villagers or other rights holders have the right to request an announcement in accordance with the law, and have the right to refuse to go through the land acquisition compensation registration procedures. If the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan has not been announced in accordance with the law, the land-expropriated rural collective economic organizations, rural villagers or other rights holders have the right to request the announcement in accordance with the law, and have the right to refuse to go through the land acquisition compensation and resettlement procedures.

3. Not informed of the right to hearing

Article 9 of the "Land Acquisition Announcement Measures" stipulates: "If the land-expropriated rural collective economic organizations, rural villagers or other rights holders have different opinions on the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan or request a hearing, they shall submit it to the relevant municipal or county people's government land administration department within 10 working days from the date of announcement of the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan." Article 10 stipulates: "The relevant municipal and county people's government land administrative departments shall study the different opinions of the land-expropriated rural collective economic organizations, rural villagers or other rights holders on the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan. If the parties request a hearing, a hearing shall be held. If it is really necessary to modify the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan, it shall be modified in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and the approved land acquisition plan."

According to the above provisions, farmers whose land has been expropriated have different opinions on the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plans and have the right to request a hearing within a time limit. Therefore, the implementing agency for land requisition shall provide the right of hearing to the rural collective economic organizations, rural villagers or other rights holders whose land has been requisitioned. The right to hearing can be notified in the announcement of the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan, or in other ways. However, in the actual land acquisition and demolition work, the right to hearing is almost never notified, let alone holding a hearing, which essentially deprives the land-expropriated farmers of their democratic right to request a hearing.

4. The investigation work is not detailed

After the owners and use rights holders of the expropriated land bring the land ownership certificate to the government land administration department to register for land acquisition compensation within the period specified in the announcement, the government land administration department should conduct detailed investigation and verification of the items registered for compensation item by item, and fill in the compensation form for the demolition of housing facilities, young crops, etc. This workload is heavy, highly professional, complex, cumbersome, and prone to errors. It requires staff to have high professional qualities and a patient and meticulous work style. However, in the actual expropriation and demolition work, the political and professional quality of the staff does not meet the requirements.

There are many errors in the investigation and verification work: First, there are omitted items, and almost every demolished household has problems with additions. There are quite a few missing items in some cases. Second, the applied compensation standard is inaccurate. Farmers whose land has been expropriated compare themselves with each other. If the standard is too high, they will not come to you; if it is too low, they will come to you. Third, the applicable compensation standard is arbitrary and unfair, and the standard for good relationships is set higher. Fourth, the work has a weak sense of responsibility, is simple and crude, and does not provide patient and meticulous ideological work to the demolished households, which leads to resistance among the demolished households.

5. Insufficient compensation and resettlement

Article 25 of the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Land Management Law" stipulates: "All costs for land acquisition shall be paid in full within 3 months from the date of approval of the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan." In actual land acquisition and demolition work, some land acquisition compensation fees cannot be paid in full within the prescribed period. In some demolition projects, the demolished households have lived in transitional housing for more than a year after demolishing their houses, and the reconstruction site has not yet been released.