Zhu Lifeng of Yuyao in east China's Zhejiang Province has become the first man to get a favorable court verdict in a forceful demolition case against the local government, Xinhua said yesterday.

The recent victory of the 40-year-old farmer against the local government has been hailed as a landmark ruling, prompting the administration to follow the law in letter and spirit.

"Though I'm just a farmer, I know about the country's laws," Zhu said. "And I've just taken recourse to law to safeguard my rights."

Zhu built six 200-square-meter houses on the farmland around his house in 1997, and rented them out to pay the medical bills of his mother. But like others in the village, he didn't apply for the local government's approval to do so.

Two years later, the local government declared all the six houses illegal structures and fined Zhu 1,800 yuan ($225). "I took it for granted that after paying the fine, the six houses had obtained legal status," Zhu said.

But in 2005, the municipal government planned to build Lanshu Bridge and Lanshu Park, needing large plots of land, and Zhu's houses were on one of those.

The government promised to compensate Zhu for his loss. But the two parties could not agree on the amount.

"My houses were for commercial use. But the government insisted on paying me compensation for rural houses that was much less than the actual loss I would suffer," Zhu said.

So he refused. The government then sent him a notice, saying the six houses were illegal and had to be demolished. His houses were pulled down forcefully after a week. More houses were demolished on that day along with that of Zhu.

The loss of his property and source of his income forced him to file a case against the government. What tilted the case in favor, he said, was the evidence he collected that the local government had approved the use of his land before the demolition. That was a violation of the land approval procedure.

In December last year, the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court passed the final verdict that the Yuyao government had violated the law by forcefully demolishing his houses.

"This is the first time that a resident has won a lawsuit against the government," Zhu's lawyer Yuan Yulai said.

And Xinhua quoted a legal expert as having said: "First, the government does not have the right to pull down illegal constructions. And second, the government should act in line with legislation. Illegal administrative procedures are the main cause for disputes in relocation cases."

(China Daily January 30, 2007)