Does the Court have the authority to resolve cases that have been resolved by effective decision from the competent State agency?

In the process of resolving civil cases, an important legal issue that often arises is whether the competent Court has the jurisdiction to settle the case when the matter has been resolved by an effective decision of a competent State agency? To answer the above question, the Council of Judges of the Supreme People’s Court has issued the Case Law No. 71/2024/AL on 20, 21, 23 February 2024 (the “Case Law No. 71”), to establish an important guideline in determining the jurisdiction of the competent Court in similar cases.

In this article, BLawyers Vietnam will analyze some important points of the Supreme People’s Court recorded in Case Law No. 71.

1. The Court’s Jurisdiction over particular decision

According to the provision of Vietnamese law, when settling civil cases, the Court has the right to annul the illegal particular decisions of the competent agency, organizations and persons infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of involved parties in civil cases that the Court is resolving.

At the same time, if the Court settles a civil case related particular decision mentioned above, the Court may consider such decision in the same civil case.

2. Summary of Case Law No. 71

Case Law No. 71 related to land use rights disputes and request to annul the decision resolving the complaint by the People’s Committee, between the plaintiff is Ms. Dang Thi Thu H (“Ms. H”) and the defendant is Ms. Nguyen Thi C (“Ms. C”). Specifically, the dispute between Ms. H and Ms. C relates to a land area of 1.962 m2, belonging to Parcel No. 72, Map No. 17 (Old parcel No. 56, Map No. 12), in Commune Q, District N, Dong Nai Province with the following contents:

1. In 1995, the above-mentioned plot had not been granted a Certificate of Land Use Rights, Mr. Nguyen Tan T (“Mr. T”) is Ms. H’s husband, had a dispute over land use rights with Ms. C, and thus, the competent state agency to settle the land dispute belongs to the People’s Committee of District N;
2. On 21 November 2000, the People’s Committee of District N issued Decision No. 1627/QD.CT.UBH on settlement of complaints (“Decision No. 1627”), rejecting Mr. T’s complaint about reclaiming the land area of 2.152,15 m2 that Mr. T had previously transferred to Ms. C on 08 December 1987;
3. Due to disagreeing with Decision No. 1627, Mr. T continued to file a complaint with the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dong Nai Province. On 19 December 2001, the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dong Nai Province issued the Decision on settlement of complaints No. 4835/QD.CT.UBT (“Decision No. 4835”), affirming that the Decision No. 1627 dated 21 November 2000 on the resolution of the dispute between Mr. T and Ms. C was in compliance with the legal provisions and rejecting Mr. T’s complaint;
4. However, Ms. H still repeatedly requested Ms. C to return the entire land plot after the Decision No. 4835 became legally effective. Therefore, Ms. H requested the People’s Court of Dong Nai Province to force Ms. C to return to Ms. H the above-mentioned plot through the original lawsuit dated 08 December 2014 and an supplementary petition dated 18 May 2015;
5. On 31 October 2018, the People’s Court of Dong Nai Province issued Decision No. 55/2018/QDST-DS to suspend the resolution of the civil case dated 31 October 2018 (“Decision No. 55”), which decided to suspend the settlement of first-instance civil case No. 41/2015/TLST-DS dated 14 October 2015 regarding the dispute over land use rights and the request for annulment of the complaint settlement decision of the People’s Committee between Ms. H and Ms. C;
6. On 12 December 2018, Ms. H appealed Decision No. 55. Accordingly, the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City issued a Decision No. 154/2019/QD-PT to settle the appeal against the Decision to suspend the settlement of the case dated 08 May 2019 (“Decision No. 154”), accepting Ms. H’s appeal, annulling Decision No. 55 of the People’s Court of Dong Nai Province and remanding the case file to the People’s Court of Dong Nai Province for further proceedings;
7. After Decision 154 was issued, the Chief Justice of the Dong Nai Provincial People’s Court proposed to the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court to protest Decision No. 154 according to the cassation procedure. Accordingly, the Council of Judges of the Supreme People’s Court issued a cassation decision No. 14/2022/DS-GĐT date 28 April 2022 (“Decision No. 14”), annulling Decision No. 154 of the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City and upholding Decision No. 55 of the People’s Court of Dong Nai Province.

3. Assessment of Case Law No. 71

As mentioned in Item 2 above, the Council of Judges of the Supreme People’s Court issued Decision No. 14 to annul Decision No. 154 and uphold Decision No. 55, with the following opinions:

1. Since the dispute between Ms. H and Ms. C had been resolved by Decision No. 4835 issued by the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dong Nai Province on 19 December 2001, which had become legally effective, the issuance of Decision No. 55 by the People’s Court of Dong Nai Province based on Article 192.1.c and Article 217.1.g of the Civil Procedure Code 2015 is correct; and
2. The issuance of Decision No. 154 by the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City, annulling Decision No. 55 and transferring the case file to the People’s Court of Dong Nai Province to continue to settle the case is groundless.

Thus, by approving Case Law No. 71, the Council of Judges of the Supreme People’s Court has affirmed that once a dispute has been resolved by a legally effective decision of a competent State agency, then that case no longer falls within the jurisdiction of the Court. In case where the Court has jurisdiction to resolve the case, the Court must issue a decision to suspend the settlement of the civil case if such circumstances are present. Clearly defining the jurisdiction of the Court in this case helps the competent Courts in Vietnam to avoid the repetition of lawsuits and ensures the stability of specific administrative decisions made by the competent agencies.

The above is not official advice from BLawyers Vietnam. If you have any questions or suggestions about the above, please contact us at info@blawyersvn.com. BLawyers Vietnam would love to hear from you.

Date: 12 December 2024

Writers: Thao Luu & Thai Bui