Mr. Gao's house in a county in Shandong Province enjoys legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law, and Mr. Gao's house needs to be expropriated due to the "shantytown reconstruction project in the area of the XX County Industrial and Commercial Bureau". In the process of promoting urban renewal and shantytown transformation, it is very important to ensure that citizens' property rights and interests are effectively protected and the legal requirements for government information disclosure are maintained.
The facts of the case
In order to verify the legality of the project and protect his own rights and interests, Mr. Gao submitted a detailed application for open government information to the XX County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau on August 25, 2023, however, the "Reply to the Information Disclosure Application" of the XX County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau This aroused Mr. Gao's dissatisfaction and doubts, especially the decision not to make public the housing resettlement compensation agreement for all expropriated persons within the scope of the expropriation, as well as the ambiguity of the photos of the ownership investigation and the compensation results.
Accordingly, Mr. Gao filed an administrative reconsideration with the reconsideration authority. Apply for the disclosure of the relevant information content of the shantytown reconstruction project in the area of the XX County Industrial and Commercial Bureau:
1. Decision and announcement on the expropriation of the land project involved in the applicant's house and land, resettlement compensation plan and announcement;2. Blue (red) line map of the expropriation of the land project involved in the applicant's house and land;3. Survey and registration results of the ownership, location, use and construction area of all the expropriated people's houses within the scope of expropriation; 4. The results of the compensation for the houses of all the expropriated persons within the scope of expropriation; 5. The housing resettlement compensation agreement of all expropriated persons within the scope of expropriation;6. The expropriation compensation fee shall be in full and stored in a special account. Special certificate of special funds (all need to be stamped with official seal).
On December 8, 2023, the County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau issued the "Reply to the Application for Information Disclosure". The reply stated:
The first item: the applicant's house and land involved in the land construction project of the expropriation decision and announcement, resettlement compensation plan and announcement; the information belongs to the XX County People's Government, the application has been provided to you by the XX County People's Government Office in paper form with the reply, the unit will not be repeated; the second item: the applicant's house and land involved in the land project expropriation blue (red) line map; the information is not made by this agency, according to the preliminary judgment, the XX County Natural Resources and Planning Bureau may have relevant information; the third item, Item 4: Survey and registration results of the ownership, location, use, and construction area of all expropriated persons' houses within the scope of expropriation; The results of the sub-household compensation of all expropriated persons within the scope of expropriation have been publicized within the scope of project expropriation in accordance with the regulations, and after the expiration of the publicity period, the applicant, as the expropriated person in the project, receives the sub-household assessment report and signs the "Real Estate Expropriation Compensation Agreement" with the expropriation implementation unit, and in accordance with the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Information Disclosure" Article 5 follows the provisions of the principle of convenience for the people, and the public photos will be disclosed to the applicant again;Item 5: The housing resettlement compensation agreement of all the expropriated persons within the scope of expropriation involves personal privacy and does not belong to the content of government information, and the unit decides not to disclose it; Item 6: The expropriation compensation fee shall be in full place, stored in a special account, and the relevant materials for special funds shall be provided by the XX County Housing Expropriation and Compensation Service Center.
The reconsideration organ believes
According to article 2 of the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Open Government Information", government information refers to information produced or obtained by administrative organs in the course of performing administrative management functions, and recorded and stored in a certain form. Article 10 stipulates that the administrative organ that produced the government information is responsible for disclosing government information produced by administrative organs. The administrative organ that stores the government information is responsible for disclosing government information obtained by administrative organs from citizens, legal persons, and other organizations; Where laws and regulations have other provisions on the scope of authority for open government information, follow those provisions, and on the basis of the above provisions, administrative organs have the legally-prescribed duty to disclose government information produced or obtained in the course of performing administrative management functions, either on their own initiative or upon application.
The focus of the dispute in this case is whether items 3, 4 and 5 of the Reply to the Application for Information Disclosure involved in the case are legal. Article 15 of the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Open Government Information" stipulates that administrative organs must not disclose government information that involves commercial secrets, personal privacy, or other disclosures that would cause harm to the lawful rights and interests of third parties. Article 32 stipulates that where the disclosure of government information upon request would harm the lawful rights and interests of third parties, the administrative organ shall solicit the opinions of the third party in writing. The third party shall submit comments within 15 working days of receiving the solicitation of comments. Where third parties do not submit comments within the time limit, the administrative organs are to decide whether to disclose them in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations. Where the third party does not consent to disclosure and there are reasonable grounds, the administrative organs are not to disclose it. Article 37 stipulates that where the information requested for disclosure contains content that should not be disclosed or is not government information, but can be handled differently, the administrative organ shall provide the applicant with the content of the government information that can be disclosed, and explain the reasons for the non-disclosure.
In this case, the XX County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau held that item 5 of the government information obtained by the applicant Gao XX should not be disclosed because it involved personal privacy, but it failed to provide evidence that the relevant information involved personal privacy, nor did it have a basis to prove that the relevant information could not be discriminated. In view of the unclear publicity photos mentioned by the applicant, in accordance with Article 1 of the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Open Government Information", in order to ensure that citizens, legal persons and other organizations obtain government information in accordance with the law, improve the transparency of government work, build a government under the rule of law, and give full play to the impact of government information on the production of the people. The service role of life and economic and social activities is to order the respondent to provide clear picture information to the applicant.
To sum up, in accordance with the provisions of Article 64, Paragraph 1 (3) of the Administrative Reconsideration Law of the People's Republic of China, this organ decides as follows:
1. Revoke item 5 of the "Reply to Information Disclosure Application" made by the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of XX County, the respondent. And within 20 working days after this decision takes effect, it will reply to item 5 of the "Information Disclosure Application Form" submitted by the applicant Gao XX in accordance with the law.
2. Order the respondent XX County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau to provide clear picture information to the applicant for items 3 and 4 of the "Reply to the Application for Information Disclosure".
Director Shi reminded
Demolition and relocation is a long-term struggle that requires comprehensive professional knowledge, control of the overall situation, and rational application of the law. Even a lawyer with many years of litigation experience is constantly learning and updating, so that he can calmly analyze and make correct judgments in a case. And for non-law-abiding people, this is a huge subject that cannot be achieved by just a short period of time. Therefore, when encountering any demolition problems, you may wish to ask a lawyer and carry out professional rights protection under the guidance of a lawyer.