On December 19, Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Court held a dialogue session between Ha Quang Real Estate JSC (Ha Quang Group) and Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee regarding the administrative lawsuit filed by this enterprise, requesting the annulment of 4 administrative decisions.
The plaintiff is Ha Quang Group - the investor of Le Hong Phong II New Urban Area Project (Le Hong Phong II Project). The defendants in this lawsuit are the Provincial People's Committee and the Tax Department of Khanh Hoa Province.
At the dialogue session, Ha Quang Group maintained its lawsuit request. Accordingly, this enterprise requested the court to annul administrative decisions including Decision 2282 dated August 2024 on approving specific land prices to calculate land use fees and land rent payable for the Le Hong Phong II project and Notices 11456, 11596, 11573 of the Tax Department.
The defendants, the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa province and the Tax Department of Khanh Hoa province, have the opinion that the above 4 administrative decisions were issued in accordance with regulations.
Through the dialogue session, the two sides could not reach an agreement on how to resolve the issues in the above administrative case. Therefore, the court made a record and considered bringing the case to trial.
Regarding the history of Le Hong Phong II Project, in 2004, Khanh Hoa province issued the first land allocation decision on a total area of 100 hectares.
In 2015, Khanh Hoa province canceled the above decision and issued a new decision, handing over more than 51 hectares of land to implement the Le Hong Phong II project.
For many reasons, the Le Hong Phong II project has not yet determined land price.
In the lawsuit, Ha Quang Group argued that the determination of land prices according to Decision 2282 violated the principle of law application. Decision 2282 relied on the surplus method to determine project land prices based on the provisions of Decree 12 of the Government on supplementing and guiding the implementation of the Land Law.
Meanwhile, the process of determining land prices for the Le Hong Phong II Project was carried out at the time when Article 37 of Decree 71 regulating land prices took legal effect from June 27, 2024.
This means that the provisions of Decree 12 and a number of previous Decrees on "instructions on the procedures and contents of determining land prices using the surplus method" have expired from June 27, 2024.
The locality applied the law incorrectly, which led to incorrect determination of the land price of the Le Hong Phong II project. According to Ha Quang Group, if Article 37 of Decree 71 is applied, the project land price will be close to the real market value.
Locality affirms doing the right thing
In November 2024, Chairman of Khanh Hoa Province Nguyen Tan Tuan signed a document sent to Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Court, stating that for work reasons, Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee requested to be absent from working sessions and attending court sessions; at the same time, the locality sent 1 specialist and 1 civil servant from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to attend.
Chairman of Khanh Hoa Province Nguyen Tan Tuan explained that the land price for the Le Hong Phong II Project is not implemented according to the provisions of Decree No. 71 because the land price appraisal results of the consulting unit were completed before June 27, 2024.
Furthermore, the appraisal meeting time of the Khanh Hoa Provincial Land Valuation Council was prolonged, and the land records of the Le Hong Phong II Project were carried out in accordance with the provisions of the 2013 Land Law.
Therefore, the issuance of Decision No. 2282 by the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa province is in accordance with regulations. The head of Khanh Hoa province believes that the request of Ha Quang Group to cancel Decision No. 2282 is baseless, and requests the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
