Mineral resources protection belongs to the category of "ecological environment and resources protection", and is the legal field of public interest litigation prosecution. Illegal exploitation of mineral resources not only causes the loss of national resources, but also causes damage to the ecological environment, and there are risks of geological disasters and hidden dangers in production safety, endangering people's lives, health and safety. In practice, how can procuratorial organs give full play to the procuratorial function of public interest litigation, supervise and rectify illegal mining, and promote source control?
The ancient post takes on a new look, and the village has "abundant" scenery
. In the summer evening, the setting sun leans against the distant mountains, and the water surface of the river before stopping is sparkling. The clear river passes through the town of Tieqian, and the old trees leaning on the bank, the ancient stone bridges nearby, and the green hills in the distance all make people intoxicated. Tieqian Town,
located in Huangmei County, Huanggang City, Hubei Province, is crisscrossed by mountains and hills. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was called "Chuwei Wutou". It is a thousand-year-old post. Later, the Ming Dynasty set up "Tieqian Post" here, so it got its name. Tuanqian River belongs to the Huangmei section of the Yangtze River Basin. As a three-level dike, it is the main river for flood discharge and farmland irrigation in the northern mountainous area of Huangmei County. The rivers, reservoirs and woodlands in the basin are the paradise for all kinds of waterfowl to live and inhabit, and also an important barrier to maintain the local ecological balance.
saw Uncle Hu, he was just about to walk into a citrus planting base on the hill in front of the stop. At the beginning of June this year, Huangmei County just entered the plum rain season, the green citrus was full of vitality under the rain, the air was no longer dry, and the orchard was full of sweet taste soaked by the rain. Uncle
Hu is more than 50 years old this year, and his home is at the foot of the mountain near the Tingqian River in Tingqian Town. He has been planting citrus since January 2010 and visits the orchard almost every morning. Now, although it is not yet mature, the citrus trees have produced small green fruits, emitting a faint fragrance.
Hu Dabo is the first group of new farmers who returned to their hometown to start their own businesses. After staying outside for a long time, he misses the mountains and rivers of his hometown very much. Once, when Uncle Hu, who had returned to his hometown for the Spring Festival, went out for a walk, he looked at the barren hills and wild slopes behind the village and had a bold idea in his mind: "Why not contract these places and plant suitable fruits?"? With the help of the children, Uncle Hu selected the citrus variety through preliminary market research, started small-scale trial planting, and expanded the planting area after successful planting. Nowadays, on the 6000 mu hilly and wild slopes, citrus trees are everywhere, which has become a favorite picking place for many tourists.
With the emergence of agglomeration effect, more and more people choose to return home for planting and take the initiative to participate in the torrent of rural construction. "The orchard was originally a large barren slope, but in fact it is very suitable for the cultivation of fruit trees, backed by the Qianhe River, next to the Gujiao Reservoir, water resources are quite abundant, and the land is very fertile." A staff member of the Tuoqian Town Government said that as a three-level embankment, the Tuoqian River has become a comprehensive functional body integrating flood control, water storage, drought resistance, aquaculture and tourism, bringing good social, economic and ecological benefits to the local people. The Tuoqian River Basin, which is
surrounded by fertile soil, is also rich in mineral resources, which has led to local economic development. However, in recent years, the villagers of a village along the Dianqian River have found that some people have excavated river sand on the river course and the back water surface of the Dianqian River, and more and more sand and other wastes have been piled up on the river beach and embankment beside the village, which not only seriously affects the beauty of the river course, but also seriously affects the flood safety of the Dianqian River.
"Most afraid of the arrival of the flood season, not only afraid that the river is not smooth, affecting flood discharge, washing our fruit seedlings, but also afraid of landslides burying the orchard." This problem worries the new farmers. "The river has been turned upside down, and there are fewer visitors for sightseeing and picking." Before
stopping, a group of prosecutors
came to the riverside. In the early spring of 2022, Wu Zhishu of a village committee found a group of people on the river embankment outside the village, looking around the river embankment and the waste piled up on the river. Wu Zhishu came forward to inquire and learned that Wang Quansheng, prosecutor of Huangmei County Procuratorate, and others came to handle the case.
According to Wang Quansheng's recollections, that time they came to Tingqian Town to carry out a weekly routine visit, and learned from the villagers that there were many small-scale illegal sand mining activities around the Tingqian River. Although the town government has taken the lead in cracking down, the relevant departments have not filed a case to investigate this behavior.
Wang Quansheng and others immediately drove to the scene. Several incoherent puddles and piles of abandoned stones appeared in front of everyone, and they initially judged that the act might be suspected of committing a crime. In order to find out the case, they visited the police station, water, forestry, land, town government and other relevant departments. After a lot of efforts, the whole story emerged.
Originally, from October 2021 to April 2022, Zhou Mou and Li Mou, without a sand mining license, used excavators to carry out illegal sand mining in the pre-stop section of the river in the name of road construction by village groups and silt removal by river ponds, and sold them out for profit, which resulted in the destruction of some bank slopes of the embankment section. The remains and wastes piled up beside the river also have a great impact on the local environment.
According to the information collected and the results of visits, the value of the cases involved may reach the standard of criminal filing. On April 21, 2022, the Huangmei County Procuratorate served the Letter of Transfer of Disciplinary and Illegal Clues to the public security organs. Three days later, the public security organs of Huangmei County investigated the criminal suspect Zhou Mou and Li Mou for stealing and digging river sand. Criminal must be given priority in the connection of
execution. Wang Quansheng recalled that on April 28, 2022, the Huangmei County Procuratorate issued procuratorial suggestions to the relevant water conservancy authorities, and he and his colleagues also went to the proposed units for many discussions to win understanding and support.
The proposed unit immediately performed its duties of supervision and management, and soon made a written reply to the procuratorial proposal, saying that the case constituted a criminal case, and that the public security organ was investigating it, and that it had cleaned up the remains of the former river course, beach and other wastes, and had guided the reinforcement and repair of the bank slope of the partially damaged embankment section of the river course, so as to ensure the safety of the embankment and the stability of the river regime. It is not easy to deal with
damaged rivers and accumulated waste. In order to promote river regulation, Wang Quansheng has "looked back" three times on the illegal sand mining sections of Zhou Mou and Li Mou, and continued to follow up and supervise.
"How come the law enforcement officers of the water conservancy department have not been present for investigation and supervision?" "Why hasn't the river sand piled up here been cleaned up?" "Why is the progress of river bank slope reinforcement and repair so slow?"?
Huangmei County Procuratorate believes that the water conservancy authorities unilaterally emphasize the "link between execution and criminal priority", and neglect to perform their supervisory and administrative duties on the grounds that the public security organs have filed cases for investigation and are not appropriate to impose administrative penalties on criminal suspect. In September 2022, the court filed administrative public interest litigation with the Wuxue City Court, which has unified jurisdiction over administrative public interest litigation cases in Huangmei County, Qichun County and Wuxue City.
"The public security organs are investigating the case of Zhou Mou, and we believe that it is not appropriate to impose administrative penalties on Zhou Mou at this time." In court, the relevant person in charge of the county's water conservancy department said, "Moreover, we have partially fulfilled the supervision of river restoration and reinforcement work, and we should not be considered to be negligent in fulfilling our supervisory and administrative duties." The
prosecutor expressed his opinion in court that the defendant unit should order Zhou Mou and Li Mou to correct their illegal acts, take remedial measures and fulfill their legal obligations to repair damaged river embankments in accordance with the provisions of Articles 41 and 44 of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on River Management. The order neither impairs the rights nor increases the obligations of the offender, but requires the offender to fulfill his legal obligations, so it is not an administrative penalty and does not conflict with the principle of criminal priority administration.
"The water conservancy authorities did not take effective supervision measures after we issued procuratorial suggestions to urge them to perform their duties." In Wang Quansheng's view, the harm caused by illegal sand and stone mining is persistent, and the ecological environment damage caused by soil erosion will be more than one day if the harm is not eliminated, which needs to be solved as soon as possible.
"The defense is not valid." In December 2022, the Wuxue City Court supported all the litigation requests of the procuratorial organs and ordered the defendant units to perform their supervisory and administrative duties on the illegal sand mining activities in the Qianhe River. After the
judgment came into effect, the water conservancy department of Huangmei County held a special regulation work conference, and then the town government formulated the Work Program for the Special Regulation of Illegal Sand Mining in the Stopping River. Five days later, the water conservancy authorities and the town government jointly completed the repair of the partially damaged embankment section of the illegal sand mining in the river.
From individual cases to similar cases, we should promote the governance
of the source of litigation. "We should not be satisfied with handling this case well, but should achieve a good effect of governing one piece and benefiting one party by handling one case." Huangmei County Procuratorate responsible person told reporters.
investigation, the prosecutor found that there were still some problems in the supervision of the mining field that needed to be solved urgently: the administrative examination and approval procedures for sand and gravel mining were not perfect, and the mining permits for some projects were signed and licensed by temporary organizations such as the county mine renovation team and the dregs transportation team; the sand mining supervision mechanism was not established and perfected, and the supervision was not enough; The rectification of illegal mining has failed to achieve effective convergence of information sharing, case transfer and disposal feedback, resulting in repeated illegal mining activities; ecological restoration is not timely and standardized, and there are hidden dangers of natural resources and ecological environment safety.
In view of the fact that these systemic and source problems need to be solved from a higher level, in September 2022, the procuratorate of Huangmei County, witnessed by the deputies to the National People's Congress, publicly served procuratorial suggestions to the county's water conservancy authorities, suggesting that they strengthen publicity and protection, examine and approve sand mining licenses according to law, and strictly control them; We will improve mechanisms to crack down on illegal mining activities in accordance with the law. Since the issuance of the
procuratorial proposal, the water conservancy authorities have strengthened the work of establishing rules and regulations, continuously improved the standardization and refinement of mining supervision in the field of water conservancy and lakes, and successively signed the "Joint Law Enforcement Mechanism on Water in Huangmei Section of the Yangtze River" with six water law enforcement departments in the border waters of Jiujiang, Jiangxi and Wuxue, Hubei. Signed the Work Agreement on Joint Combating Illegal Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Border Waters of Hukou County, Jiangxi Province, Susong County, Anhui Province and Huangmei County, Hubei Province, and assisted the Huangmei County Government in formulating the Work Program of Special Action for Comprehensive Regulation of Illegal Sand Mining in the Yangtze River Basin of Huangmei County, carrying out special regulation and carrying out joint law enforcement 16 times and 26 ships. Two "three nothingness" sand dredgers were dismantled. On November 2,
2022, the procuratorate of Huangmei County "looked back" on the implementation of the procuratorial recommendations and found that six sand and gravel factories involved in the case had been shut down and demolished according to law, and the other four had been rectified according to law.
"The practice of the procuratorate is conducive to expanding the effect of supervision, plugging the loopholes in industry supervision, and improving the standardization and refinement of the development and management of sand and stone mineral resources as a whole." Chen Liaoyuan, deputy to the National People's Congress and Secretary of the Party Branch of Laopu Village, Liulin Township, Huangmei County, who lives next door to Tingqian Town, praised.
The ancient post has a new look, and the village has a "abundant" scene. Nowadays, in the villages along the Qianhe River, yellow tea, white tea, Camellia oleifera, blueberry, citrus and other special industries have begun to take shape. A number of cultural tourism projects such as Camellia Valley and Huahai Tea Garden have settled down. Walking and riding on the river embankment has become a new way for villagers to enjoy leisure sports. Villagers nearby jokingly called "stop before overflow" back to the beautiful "stop before post", which is also full of people's high evaluation of the new appearance of the ancient post and no longer worry about the safety of rainy days.
In midsummer, at the site of land reclamation in Fujin Village, Taihe Town, Hechuan District, Chongqing, the procurator of Hechuan District Procuratorate saw that many pits excavated by sand mining had been filled up, the ripe soil layer was covered with grass, and the continuous extension of green and distant mountains were connected..
It is hard to imagine that there have been problems in this land, such as illegal sand mining and difficulties in reclaiming good farmland destroyed by disasters. Under the continuous follow-up and supervision of the three-level procuratorial organs in Chongqing, the effect of flood sediment control and reclamation of disaster-damaged land is obvious, and the public interest is effectively safeguarded. In June this year, the case was selected as a typical case of public interest litigation issued by the Supreme Procuratorate to supervise and rectify illegal mining (the second batch). In March
2021, a case clue of "illegal sand mining in the Yangtze River destroys national mineral resources and ecological environment" reported by the Supreme Procuratorate was handed over to the Hechuan District Procuratorate step by step. Subsequently, the three-level procuratorial organs in Chongqing joined forces as a whole, and quickly transferred police officers to set up a special team to conduct a preliminary investigation.
such a scale of sedimentary sand come from? Where did you go? In August
2020, affected by heavy rainfall and upstream inflow, nearly 1000 mu of cultivated land along the Fujiang River in Taihe Town was submerged. After the flood receded, a large amount of river sand was deposited on some riverbanks and land surfaces along the river, including about 1.3 million tons of sand deposited on the land and riverbanks in the vegetable base of Fujin Village, and nearly 474 mu of damaged land.
"In the past, rising water also had a certain impact on cultivated land, but the flood came and went quickly, without depositing so much sand and gravel, villagers generally spontaneously cleaned up and reclaimed." Wu Dagan, Secretary of the Party branch of Fujin Village, recalled. However, in October 2020, village cadres and Hechuan Rural Agricultural Investment (Group) Co., Ltd. found that the flood-deposited sand piled on the disaster-damaged land in Fujin Village was sold to the surrounding building materials market at a price of 100 to 150 yuan per ton. In this regard, although the local government arranged special personnel to persuade and set up two checkpoints for interception and inspection, it had little effect.
From "debate" to "chorus"
, "it is difficult to harness and reclaim, and I am afraid that the damaged land can only be adjusted and transformed into unused land."
"Flood-deposited sand does not belong to mineral resources, and we have insufficient basis for intervention and supervision."
"It is difficult to define the nature of resources and behavior, and it is difficult to deal with them."
…………
Flood-deposited sand control and reclamation of disaster-damaged land are new topics of grass-roots management along river basins, involving township, land and resources, agriculture, forestry and water affairs departments, and there is no experience to follow. In order to unite efforts to open up the road of re-cultivation, the procuratorial organs of Chongqing took the lead in time and held several symposiums with the local government and functional departments to jointly explore ways to solve the problem. On the basis of investigation and consultation, the procuratorial organs believe that although flood sediment sand is not listed in the catalogue of mineral resources, it is formed by flood sediment, has similar characteristics and economic value with river sand, and belongs to state-owned natural resources according to law. According to the Civil Code, the Land Management Law and other laws, the natural resources department should assume the responsibility of supervision. In August
2021, the First Branch of Chongqing Procuratorate issued procuratorial suggestions to Hechuan District Planning and Natural Resources Bureau before administrative public interest litigation, suggesting that it should fully perform its duties according to law, take timely protective measures for the land damaged by floods in Taihe Town, and implement the work of renovation and reclamation.
For this reason, the procuratorial organs and functional departments actively cooperated to visit the site, and invited Chongqing water conservancy experts and agricultural experts to "feel the pulse" on the spot to assess the quality of the disaster-damaged land and its surrounding unused land. In May
2022, the rectification plan was finally completed after several revisions. According to the plan, the renovation project of disaster-damaged land in Fujin Village is divided into two stages: short-term emergency rescue and long-term reclamation of cultivated land, involving the construction of dams, site leveling, dregs slope, planting soil backfilling and re-cultivation, gentle slope greening and other control measures. After full demonstration, nearly 474 mu of cultivated land damaged by floods and adjusted to unused land, as well as the surrounding beach land to improve land quality through renovation and restoration, were also included in the reclamation plan. In August
2022, the short-term emergency rescue project of the disaster-damaged land renovation project in Fujin Village was completed, and a dam with a length of about 2500 meters passed the acceptance of the functional departments. In June
this year, the renovation project of the damaged land in Fujin Village was completed. About 561 mu of reclaimed land is covered with mellow soil at a minimum of 40 cm, which will be returned to all villages and communities after acceptance, nearly 100 mu more than disaster-damaged land expected to be restored in the plan.
To the surprise of the villagers, the reclamation project is also equipped with more than 5000 meters of production convenience roads and more than 4300 meters of gabion slope protection. The disaster area in the past has been transformed into a "cornucopia" for villagers to increase their income and become rich. How can new topic of
governance promote local legislation
to solve the problem of lack of regulatory bodies for natural resources due to force majeure?
As early as the end of 2021, the planning and natural resources management departments of Hechuan District issued the Pilot Implementation Plan of the Principal-Agent Mechanism for the Ownership of Natural Resources Assets Owned by the Whole People to explore the complementary mechanism for the management of natural resources assets.
In addition, the procuratorial organs of Chongqing, relying on the handling of cases, take the initiative to dock when starting the local legislative procedures of land management in Chongqing, and propose to increase the norms of restoration and management of cultivated land damage or destruction caused by natural disasters, clarify the subject of restoration and the obligation of restoration, and promote local legislation to strengthen the protection of new state-owned resources.
"The procuratorial organs should urge the functional departments to explore the management mechanism of the owner's replacement of the lack of supervision subject of natural resources due to force majeure factors in handling cases when the new public interests are not effectively managed due to the lag of legislation." Peng Jinrong, director of the five procuratorial departments of Chongqing Procuratorate, introduced that this practice has also played an exemplary role in handling cases of flood sediment disposal in disaster-damaged areas in the future.
At present, the Regulations on Land Management in Chongqing (draft for comments) have adopted the opinions of the procuratorial organs and entered the legislative process.
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