Jianhua Town, Kailu County, Inner Mongolia, is on fire: the peasants have contracted the village collective land for 30 years, and the contract has not expired, and under the guidance of the town, they are required to increase the land contract fee by more than 1 million yuan per year...... What is this farce?
■Village cadre: I don't know the law, and I will collect money when asked me to do so
Jianhua Town is located in the northeast of Kailu County, Inner Mongolia, and on May 26, 2020, the town was selected into the list of strong agricultural industry towns in 2020 released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, indicating that agriculture has become a new engine for innovative development and regional economic growth in the local area, and also shows that the town government fully attaches importance to the development of agricultural economy and has made a difference.
However, it should be the busiest season for spring ploughing, and Mr. Zhang and other farmers in Shuangsheng Village, Jianhua Town, are not busy or happy, because when they are ploughing the thousands of acres of land contracted by a number of farmers, they are surrounded by village cadres and ask for an increase in land contracting fees, and they will not let you plow land and sow seeds if they don't give money.
The village cadres blocked the scene
Mr. Zhang couldn't understand that the land contract signed with the village was 30 years, far from expiring, and that the temporary increase in the contract fee had to be explained and a legal word. The village cadres threatened: If you don't understand the law, I will collect money if I am asked by the above. It means that you have to give money anyway, and if you don't give money, you can't do it. If you don't give money, the village director will bring 200 people to stop it tomorrow, and see if you dare to plow the land.
Screenshot of the contract
How much money to give? The annual contract fee will be increased by 200 yuan per mu of land, and the contract fee will be increased by more than 1 million yuan per year for more than 4,600 mu of land. The question is, is it justified to temporarily increase land contract fees and forcibly block peasants' spring ploughing? Not only village cadres, but also deputy mayors and members of the political and legal committee of the town government have personally come to the scene and led the police to enforce the law on the spot.
■Town cadre: I don't know the law either, so you went to the police after you did a fight
The village obstruction incident also alarmed the town government, and the deputy secretary and political and legal committee members led a group of public security policemen to the scene to enforce the law and deal with the matter. Mr. Zhang and other peasants reported this matter to the town cadres, and the deputy secretary pointed at the peasants and said that they would get out of the car and not allow them to cultivate the land, saying that the contract had been cancelled, and that your behavior was a kind of seizure of collective resources and collective land.
Immediately after that, the police demanded that the car be detained and the person should be forcibly taken back to the police station for investigation, and the video taken by the reporter saw that the scene was chaotic. Mr. Zhang and other peasants said that what should happen if the village cadres do not allow farmland to be farmland, and if there is a mass incident, isn't it illegal? Isn't it embarrassing for the government?
Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and member of the Political and Legal Committee of Jianhua Town
The deputy secretary of the town government and the political and legal committee said that he did not understand the law, so why did you look for the police and the government? It means that I only have to pay money to plow the land and sow seeds, and I don't care about other things, you can find the corresponding department if you have something.
■What is the focus of the tripartite dispute between the land contractor, the village committee, and the town government?
The meaning of the village committee and the town government is that the original land contract was written as grassland, but now you turn it into cultivated land, the original contract will have to be changed, and the contract fee will be increased.
The land contractor believes that the original contract is valid for 30 years, the contract has not ended, and the original contract fee has been paid in 2022. Moreover, in order to turn saline-alkali land and grassland into arable land, they have invested a lot of money, manpower, and material resources, and they also have to give an explanation.
Secretary of the Village Committee of Shuangsheng Village
For this reason, the reporter went to the village committee to interview the secretary of the village committee, and the secretary said that this land is grassland, which has become cultivated land, and now the land contract fee must be changed. The reporter asked if it was appropriate to do so while it was still under contract? The secretary said that it was appropriate, and it was the town's request.
The reporter went to the town to interview the mayor, but the mayor was vague, saying that the town did not allow arable land, and it was all a request from their village, and they signed a contract with the village, and now they are asking for a change in the contract fee. The reporter also asked: Is there any legal basis? The mayor said that there seems to be some change in the Civil Code?
Mayor of Jianhua Town
The deputy secretary in charge of the political and legal committee is relatively knowledgeable about the law, not at all like what he said earlier and does not understand the law, and he made it clear that this belongs to Article 533 of the Civil Code: how there is an unforeseeable risk after signing a contract, and causing losses to the other party, it is a change of circumstances and not a commercial risk, and it needs to be continued to negotiate and deal with it.
■According to experts, it is not a change of circumstances, but a commercial risk
He made it clear that according to the terms of the signed contract, the village committee had foreseen the possibility of turning grassland into cultivated land when signing the contract, that is, this risk was foreseeable, and the land change was not the cause of national policy and natural change, but the farmers themselves improved the land by leveling the land, digging wells and irrigating, etc., so this situation is a commercial risk.
What the experts say
In other words, according to the provisions of the Civil Code Law, this situation is foreseeable, and it is not a change of circumstances, but a commercial risk, and the village committee should bear this risk, so the statement of the deputy secretary of the town is not valid. It is unreasonable for the village committee and the town government to block the peasants' cultivated land, demand that the contract be changed, and increase the contract fee.
■Kailu Prefectural Government's Attitude: A working group was set up to investigate
On April 22, according to media reports and the one-sided public opinion attitude of netizens, Kailu County issued a briefing for the first time:
It said that the investigation work will be launched immediately, and the results will be announced to the public as soon as possible. We appreciate the positive attitude of the county government in handling things, and hope that a win-win outcome can be achieved as soon as possible.
■Final Words:
Whether the land is used for cultivation, whether the land improved by the peasants is a change of circumstances or a commercial risk, whether the land contract law has priority over the Civil Code, and whether the land contract can be unilaterally terminated and the land recovered all depend on the opinions or judgments of the judicial department.
However, with regard to the emergence of the whole incident, the attitude and methods of the village committee and the town government in the process of handling this matter are also worthy of our consideration and summarization.
The peasants' ideas are simple, just as they say: can you let us plough the land first, or let us take back the capital first? Looking at the land that I have spent half my life working on is desolate there, thinking that the money I have invested may not be recovered, I think this is the thing that peasant friends are most unwilling to face and anxious about.
Can you plough the land first and then talk about the money?
Can we solve it while sowing seeds?
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