A group of seven farmers from Liaoning are suing the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) after trying for over two and a half years to resolve a dispute over land compensation.

The trouble started on January 14, 2002 when Liaoning's provincial government filed to expropriate 284,723 hectares of farmland for municipal construction.

Shi Hongxue, representing the farmers, said they had originally built farms on the land, in the Xiakanzi hamlet of suburban Shenyang, in response to the municipal government's "vegetable basket" project. This aimed to establish more production bases for non-staple food supplies and their work included building greenhouses and workshops to grow vegetables, process bean curd and rear pigs.

Their compensation was announced March 12, but for Shi this amounted to only 49,100 yuan (US$5,932), which he found unacceptable.

The standard calculation for land compensation is based on 170 yuan (US$20) per square meter, but only 44 square meters of Shi's farmland was paid at this rate. An additional 230 square meters were each paid at the much lower rates of 85 and 80 yuan.

"Other farmers also suffered from the same fate as me. I could not find out the reason for it but asked for help from the relevant departments at all levels,"said Shi, at a loss.

Initially more than 20 farmers participated in appealing the decision over compensation rates, but over time this was whittled down to seven. For the next two and half years they were pushed from a bureaucratic pillar to post, costing them about 30,000 yuan (US$3,624).

First stop was the village committee, but they said they had no authority over compensation rates. Next they went to the district government office, who directed them to the Yuhong office of Shenyang's Planning, Land and Resources Bureau. They didn't reply directly to the farmers' appeal, but instructed them on March 22 to vacate the land concerned and on March 26 organized a forced eviction.

On appeal to Yuhong District People's Court, the bureau was found to be in the wrong regarding the eviction, but the court said it had no authority to rule on the compensation and that the farmers should make their case to Liaoning Provincial People's Government.

In what was now a familiar pattern, the provincial government's Legal Office said on January 7, 2003 that they also couldn't judge the case, and that the appropriate agency to do so would be Liaoning Provincial Land and Resources Bureau (LRB). Unfortunately the LRB disagreed, and the case was shuttled between them and the provincial government to no effect until Shi and the other farmers started making preparations to sue them in Shenyang Intermediate People's Court. This inspired the LRB to make a sudden u-turn, saying they would consider their case after all.

Unfortunately the success did not last; not until December 4 did the LRB write back with their judgment that the decision on compensation was based on national law approved by the State Council, so should be judged by the People's Government, and they quoted MLR sources to support their case.

Just as well for the farmers, lawyer Lu Guang saw the letter and questioned the legal validity of the ministry documents. On December 27 they sent a request to MLR to invalidate Liaoning LRB's position, but received no reply. They then visited the ministry to see what had happened with their request, and after strenuous efforts on the behalf of Lu, they eventually accepted to review the case.

This was initially carried out on April 29, 2004, but because it was deemed "too legally complex" the ministry was unable to make a decision at first. It took until July 28 before the MLR announced its reconsideration supporting Liaoning LRB's position.

Now at their wits end, they petitioned the First Intermediate People's Court in Beijing on August 5 to sue MLR and their case was accepted. The farmers returned their list of charges against MLR on October 13, including a request for the Minister Sun Wensheng to appear in court and respond to the charges.

After all their troubles Shi Xuehong is still on tenterhooks: "We spent two and a half years trying to get a ruling to judge the validity of the compensation rates. I feel so sorry that a verdict is so hard to get."

Confusion still reigns over today's court appearance - the court information officer we contacted denied any knowledge of the case, though the farmers and the Shenyang reporter accompanying them confirmed that it is being heard this afternoon.

(China.org.cn by Li Shen and Wang Ruyue, October 29, 2004)