On April 22, according to the "China Three Rural Release", a number of growers in Kailu County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, reported that some town and village cadres prevented them from farming in the fields, and they had to pay money for farming, and they had signed land contracts before. After the media exposed the incident, a local working group has been set up to investigate the matter.
On the 23rd, the staff of the local Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision responded to reporters that they had paid attention to the matter and were verifying whether the village and town cadres involved had violated the law and discipline.
Local notice (Source: Kailu Financial Media)
At present, do growers allow spring ploughing? In this regard, a staff member of the Kailu County People's Government Office told this reporter that the specific situation is not very clear, and it is now being resolved. The operator of the Kailu County Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau said: "I haven't watched this video, I don't know if I am involved, you go to the Propaganda Department." ”
The reporter repeatedly called the Foreign Propaganda Office of the Propaganda Department of the Kailu County Party Committee, but no one answered.
The barren land was turned into a watered field
Why do you want to pay again now?
The video of the report shows that a deputy director of the village committee of Shuangsheng Village, Jianhua Town, Kailu County, stopped the spring plowing of growers, saying: "What can I do if I come to 110, I will collect money if I am asked to collect money." In addition, there are town cadres in Jianhua Town who prevent farmers from cultivating land and strongly demand that the cars be detained. Ji Yunhao, deputy secretary of the town's party committee and member of the political and legal committee, said in the report: "Don't look for me, I don't know the law!"
According to the town and village officials, these growers now have two options: either pay a "supplementary contract fee" or terminate the contract. So, why did the conflict arise and what is the "supplementary contract fee"?
It turned out that more than ten years ago, the land contracted by the villagers was still a wasteland that few people cared about, and the contract price was relatively low at that time.
Villagers told reporters that they had already paid the land contract fee. From the land contract provided by the villagers, the reporter saw that the contract period of the land began on March 20, 2004, and the contract fee for 30 years was paid in batches, and it was all settled in 2022.
The reporter noticed that the annex to the land contract is called the pasture map, and the total area of 6,000 acres of land is only 110 acres. Villagers told reporters that they originally contracted this land to raise cattle and grow forage, and except for a small part of arable land and forest land, most of it was saline-alkali wasteland.
In order to grow pasture on these lands, growers invest a lot. After more than ten years of efforts, the former barren land has become a watered field.
A relevant person of the local government said that when the land has increased in value from wasteland to cultivated land, it is natural to pay a "supplementary contract fee". This logic is incomprehensible, it is true that wasteland has become arable land, but how can the premise and process be ignored?
Lawyer: It is the result of the contractor's hard work
The village committee shall be held responsible
Judging from the video taken at the scene, the cadres of the town party committee not only prevented the peasants from cultivating the land, but also strongly demanded that the cars be detained.
Ji Yunhao, deputy secretary of the party committee of Jianhua Town, Kailu County, Inner Mongolia: "You are now a group of collective land, I am the deputy secretary of the party committee of Jianhua Town, and my surname is Ji Yunhao. ”
In the eyes of the peasants who have cultivated their land during the contract period, these characterizations seem to be a bit outrageous, so is there a sufficient legal basis behind the incident?
Article 533 of the Civil Code is a change of circumstances clause, which stipulates that if the basic conditions of the contract have unforeseen major changes that are not commercial risks, the contract may be renegotiated if it is obviously unfair to one party, or the court may be requested to modify or terminate the contract. The town government believes that the value of the land has increased, and the situation has changed, and the village will suffer if the contract fee is not increased. So is the conversion of barren marshes to watering is a change of situation?
He Wenjie, Director of the Social Law Research Association of the China Law Society: Whether it is a change of circumstances or a commercial risk needs to be analyzed with reference to the aspects of predictability, regularity and consequences of the contract.
Because the contractor took measures such as mechanical leveling of the land, spreading cow dung, digging wells, and purchasing sprinkler irrigation equipment, etc., the wasteland was finally improved into irrigated land. This is during the contract period signed by both parties, since there is an agreement in the contract, then the village committee should have expected the wasteland to be turned into watered land, and should have foreseen it but did not foresee it, which is a commercial risk, and the village committee should bear responsibility.
The deed is not to be desecrated at will
"Sitting on the ground and raising prices" needs to be thoroughly investigated
He Wenjie, director of the Social Law Research Association of the China Law Society: "The Rural Land Contract Law and the Civil Code are the relationship between special law and general law, of which the Land Contract Law is a special law and has the effect of priority application, which stipulates that the contract issuing party shall not take back the contracted land during the contract period.
The contract period stipulated in the Land Contract Law is relatively long, which takes into account the contractor's characteristics of large investment, high risk and long cost recovery period. In this case, the contractor has been continuously investing in the past ten years, and it is also a matter of recent years to improve the watered land, so they should be effectively protected by the law.
Moreover, even if there is a dispute between the two parties, according to the contract law, the parties should first choose to sit down and negotiate a settlement, rather than taking the form of an administrative order. ”
One of the most simple truths is: no pain, no gain. What's more, large-scale contracted land, especially wasteland, is inherently a large investment, a long return period, and bears risks such as natural disasters. Now, the land has become better, and the growers are also seeing that they have to work hard to make ends meet, so that those who work hard to create wealth with their hands can live a good life that belongs to them, isn't that the original intention of the policy?
On February 3 this year, the No. 1 document of the Central Committee was issued, mentioning that "the use of abandoned land should be promoted in accordance with local conditions, and the use of grain should be used if it is suitable for grain and economy, and the support for rural collective economic organizations that are not cultivated will be used in multiple ways." It can be seen that the central policy is to support the multi-channel development of "uncultivated" land, and farmers know best what is appropriate to plant on the improved land.
Article 26 of the mainland's Rural Land Contract Law stipulates that state organs and their functionaries may not use their powers to interfere in rural land contracts or to alter or terminate contracts. The contract is greater than the sky, and it is not allowed to be blasphemed at will. Who is breaking the law, and who should bear the responsibility for undermining the rule of law and delaying spring ploughing?
In any case, government departments should most stress the spirit of contract, and should not "sit on the land and raise the price" when they see that the peasants who have contracted the land are managing their land in a proper way and planting better and better. The local government department requires these growers to pay another 200 yuan per mu of land, and this so-called "supplementary contract fee" needs to be thoroughly investigated.
On April 22, the Propaganda Department of the Kailu County Party Committee informed that a meeting was immediately held to set up a working group to carry out the investigation, and the results of the investigation will be announced to the public as soon as possible. Now is the spring plowing season, and it is expected that the local government will use authoritative investigation to clarify the truth of the incident as soon as possible, and deal with it impartially.
Source: CCTV