A court hearing was held to confirm that the expropriation and transfer plan of Zhijin Photovoltaic Project is invalid.

On April 20, 2022, the plaintiff filed an administrative lawsuit against Chadian Township in Zhijin County, confirming that its formulation of the "Zhijin County Hongjiadu Water-to-Photovoltaic Complementary 300MW Agricultural Photovoltaic Power Station Land Transfer and Land Acquisition Compensation Plan" is invalid. The case was heard in the Qianxi Municipal People's Court. The plaintiff added Guizhou Wujiang Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. and Guizhou Wujiang Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. Zhijin New Energy Branch to participate in the lawsuit as third parties.

The focus of the court trial is: whether the "Zhijin County Hongjiadu Water-to-Photovoltaic Complementary 300MW Agricultural Photovoltaic Power Station Land Transfer and Land Acquisition Compensation Plan" is actionable.

During the trial, the defendant Chadian Township believed that the plan was not an administrative plan and was not actionable, and shied all responsibility for illegal land use to the third party Wujiang Company. The third party was not entrusted by the defendant to defend the defendant's administrative actions. What a double act!

The court held that the "Zhijin County Hongjiadu Water-to-Photovoltaic Complementary 300MW Agricultural Photovoltaic Power Station Land Transfer and Land Acquisition Compensation Plan" is a dispute over compensation standards and should be reviewed first and then litigated. It is worth mentioning that the plaintiff requested confirmation that the plan was invalid, rather than a dispute over the compensation standard, because no compensation had been provided for the plaintiff’s damaged land, so there was no dispute.

The plan requested by the plaintiff to be revoked is the specific implementation plan for the expropriation and transfer of land for the "Zhijin Photovoltaic Project", involving 18.849 acres of land for the booster station and 11,800 acres of photovoltaic arrays. The plan was adopted by the Chadian Township Joint Meeting and requested for approval from the Zhijin County People's Government. The specific content includes land use methods, land and attachment compensation standards, etc. According to the reply from the Bijie Municipal Natural Resources Bureau: the booster station requisitioned 18.849 acres of cultivated land in Xianfeng Village, Chadian Township; the photovoltaic array has signed land transfer agreements for more than 4,900 acres, including more than 2,900 acres in Chadian Township, more than 1,500 acres in Jinlong Township, and Babu Street More than 500 acres are fully compensated. Explain that the plan involved in the case is an administrative plan that has been implemented concretely. Chadian Township’s administrative act of expropriating a “boost station” without expropriation approval is illegal, and Wujiang Company’s act of building a booster station without approval is also illegal; in addition, Chadian Township’s act of formulating a plan involved in the case and leasing the land to a third party for non-agricultural construction is also illegal Illegal. The "Land Management Law" clearly stipulates that the only administrative agencies that approve land expropriation are provincial governments and the State Council, and the administrative agencies that formulate expropriation plans are county-level people's governments. It can be seen that Chadian Township does not have the legal qualifications to formulate plans, so the plan involved in the case should be confirmed to be invalid according to the law. According to Article 79 of the Land Management Law: If a unit or individual without the right to approve the expropriation or use of land illegally approves the occupation of land, or exceeds the approval authority and illegally approves the occupation of land, it shall not approve the use of land in accordance with the purposes determined in the overall land use plan. , or if the occupation or expropriation of land is approved in violation of the procedures prescribed by law, the approval documents will be invalid. Anyone who illegally approves the expropriation or use of land and causes losses to the parties concerned shall be liable for compensation in accordance with the law.

In its defense, Chadian Township argued that the land use method was transfer rather than expropriation, which was obviously without legal basis. According to Article 38 of the "Rural Land Contract Law": The transfer of land management rights shall follow the following principles:... (4) The transferee must have agricultural management capabilities or qualifications... According to the evidence provided by Chadian Township and Wujiang Company : Wujiang Company does not have the legal qualification to accept transferred land. In addition, the main qualification for rural land transfer is the village committee, and the transferred land must obtain the consent of the contractor, and non-agricultural construction cannot be carried out.

Chadian Township argued in its defense that it was Wujiang Company that destroyed the land involved, and Wujiang signed a contract with the farmers to transfer the land, which was an obvious shirk of responsibility. According to the "Rural Land Contract Management Rights Entrustment Transfer Agreement" provided by Wujiang Company and signed with farmers, the certificate shows that the land transfer was signed by Chadian Township (Party C), Daying Village Committee (Party A) and farmers (Party B). The content of the agreement There was no agreement on any rights and obligations of Wujiang Company, and Wujiang Company did not participate in the signing.

According to Article 7 of the "Land Management Law": All units and individuals have the obligation to abide by land management laws and regulations, and have the right to report and accuse violations of land management laws and regulations.

The "Zhijin County Hongjiadu Water-to-Photovoltaic Complementary 300MW Agricultural Photovoltaic Power Station Land Transfer and Land Acquisition Compensation Plan" is both an administrative plan and is actionable.