A resident in Hanoi requested functional agencies to answer the authority to recover the encroached road area of households, individuals, and organizations using land according to the land law periods.
This person is concerned that, according to the 2003 Land Law and the 2013 Land Law, the authority to recover encroached road area belongs to the commune-level or district-level People's Committees. At the same time, when handling the encroached road area of households, individuals, organizations, does the competent authority have to issue a decision to recover land or not.
People also requested clarification that, according to the 2024 Land Law, after implementing the 2-level local government model, the authority to recover encroached road area belongs to the commune-level or provincial-level People's Committees.
Answering this content, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that according to Article 44 of the 2003 Land Law, provincial-level People's Committees decide to recover land for organizations; district-level People's Committees decide to recover land for households and individuals.
In addition, Article 38 of the 2003 Land Law stipulates that the State recovers land in cases of land use in violation of land law, including acts of encroachment and land occupation.
Regarding the 2013 Land Law, Article 64 stipulates that the State recovers land due to violations of land law. These cases include land allocated by the State for management but allowed to be encroached upon or occupied; encroached upon or occupied land.
Article 66 of the 2013 Land Law stipulates that the Provincial People's Committee decides to recover land for organizations; the District People's Committee decides to recover land for households and individuals.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, commune-level People's Committees are responsible for detecting and preventing land violations in the area according to Article 208 of the 2013 Land Law.
Regarding whether to issue a decision to recover land or not, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that according to the provisions of the 2003 Land Law and the 2013 Land Law, land recovery is under the authority of the competent People's Committee and must be implemented by an administrative decision on land recovery.
Therefore, in case of handling the encroached traffic land area according to the land recovery mechanism due to violations of land law, the competent state agency must issue a land recovery decision according to regulations.
Regarding the 2024 Land Law, Article 83 stipulates that the Provincial People's Committee decides to recover land for organizations; the District People's Committee decides to recover land for individuals and residential communities.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment also cited Clause 1, Article 14 of Decree No. 49/2026/ND-CP dated January 31, 2026 of the Government. According to this regulation, the Provincial People's Committee has the authority to decide on land recovery and decide on decentralization and authorization for agencies and people with authority to implement in accordance with the actual situation of the locality.
This is the basis for the Provincial People's Committee to consider decentralizing to the Commune People's Committee to implement the content of land recovery in violation of land law, including cases of encroachment and occupation of traffic land, depending on the actual situation in the locality.
