When you hear that the land in your hometown is about to be expropriated, a question will inevitably arise in your mind: "Whose pocket did those huge land compensation fees go into in the end? Did they go directly to our village collective, or did they go to each household? Or can both get a piece of the pie?" Then let's talk to you about Shi Xining, the chief lawyer of Beijing Jingkang Law Firm.
Lawyer's interpretation
1. Collective land compensation fee: "public funds" of village collectives
First of all, we need to understand that land compensation is not all owned by individuals, nor is it unreservedly given to the collective. The key to its destination depends on the nature and ownership of the land. For land owned by rural collectives, such as cultivated land, forest land, homesteads, etc., the first stop of land compensation is usually the village collective economic organization. Why? Because the ownership of these lands belongs to the collective, like a big piece of cake shared by a big family. When the government expropriates the land, it is equivalent to buying the cake, and naturally it has to pay the money to this "big patriarch" - the village collective.
The mainland's "Regulations for the Implementation of the Land Management Law" clearly stipulates that "the land compensation fee shall belong to the rural collective economic organization, and the compensation fee for the above-ground attachments and seedlings shall belong to the owners of the above-ground attachments and seedlings." According to this provision, the land compensation fee belongs to the rural collective economic organization, and the village committee's statement is correct.
Although the law stipulates that land compensation fees belong to rural collective economic organizations, this does not mean that land compensation funds can always be placed in the village committees or diverted by them for other purposes.
According to Article 24 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases Involving Rural Land Contract Disputes, "a rural collective economic organization, villagers' committee, or villagers' group may, in accordance with the democratic negotiation procedures prescribed by law, decide to distribute the land compensation fees already received within the collective economic organization." When the land requisition compensation and resettlement plan is determined, the person who already has the membership of the collective economic organization requests to pay the corresponding share, it should be supported.
2. Redistribution within the collective: the "dividends" of the villagers
After the collective receives the compensation fee, it will not exclusively enjoy this "dividend," but will it be reasonably distributed among the members in accordance with the relevant state and local regulations and in light of the actual situation of the village. It's like the "patriarch" cutting the big cake into small portions and dividing them among each family member. There may be several ways to distribute it:
Equal distribution: Each villager gets a share according to the capitation, no matter how much land or how much contribution is made, everyone has a share, which is fair and just.
Allocation according to the contracted area: whoever contracts more land will share more, reflecting the principle of "more work and more reward".
Comprehensive Factor Distribution: Consider various factors such as household registration, labor contribution, and land dependence to formulate complex but fairer distribution rules.
This redistribution within the collective ensures that the land compensation fee will eventually benefit every member of the collective economic organization, so that everyone can taste the sweetness of land expropriation.
3. Exclusive compensation for individuals: "red envelopes" for contractors and attachment owners
However, not all land compensation fees are collectively owned. For the land contracted by individual farmers, especially the land contracted by households, the land compensation fee will be directly paid to the contracted farmers. Because farmers have the right to contract and manage this part of the land, the law protects them from receiving compensation when the land is expropriated. In addition, the compensation for above-ground attachments (such as houses, fruit trees, greenhouses, etc.) and seedlings is also directly paid to the owner or operator, that is, the individual.
IV. Special Subsidy: "Livelihood Guarantee" for Landless Farmers
In addition to the above-mentioned compensation, resettlement subsidies may also be incurred during the land acquisition process. This money is specially used to solve the production and living resettlement problems of land-expropriated farmers, and is usually directly distributed to individual landless farmers to help them overcome the difficulties caused by the loss of land.
5. Democratic decision-making: the "clapper" moment of the villagers' assembly
In practice, the distribution of land compensation fees within the collective is not decided unilaterally by the village collective, but must go through the democratic procedure of the villagers' assembly or the villagers' congress. The villagers gathered together to discuss, deliberate, and vote on the distribution plan to ensure that the distribution of compensation was fair, open, and transparent, and in the interests of the majority.
To sum up, land compensation fees do not simply flow to collectives or individuals, but are shared between collectives and individuals through democratic decision-making within the collective according to the nature of the land, ownership relationships, and laws and regulations. The village collectives receive the compensation first, and then redistribute it among the members through a democratic process, while the compensation for the land contracted by the individual, its attachments, and seedlings is directly paid to the individual. In this way, the land compensation fee not only nourishes the collective "big tree", but also nourishes every "green leaf", truly realizing both.
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.