At the beginning, I supported everyone to reclaim barren hills and wasteland. Why do you want it back for free now? Is this legal?

Although China has a large territory, there are few available land resources, so the state encourages individuals to reclaim barren hills and wasteland in a special period. However, with the strengthening of national environmental protection, it is legal to encourage returning farmland to forests and land expropriation, especially free expropriation, caused by reservoir resettlement or local economic development and construction.

According to the provisions of China's land management law, the right to use state-owned barren hills and wasteland for agricultural production has not been determined, and development units or individuals can use it for a long time after approval by the government. Therefore, in some cases, land resumption should be compensated. But it is a deliberate destruction of forests and cultivated land. Those who illegally occupy the floodplain land should not only be recovered free of charge, but also be investigated for criminal responsibility and compensated for losses according to law.

Article 39 of the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, land reclamation must be scientifically demonstrated and evaluated, and it shall be carried out in the reclaimable area delineated in the overall land use plan approved according to law. It is forbidden to destroy forests and grasslands, reclaim cultivated land, reclaim lakes and occupy floodplains. According to the overall land use planning, the cultivated land that destroys the ecological environment will be returned to forests, grazing and lakes in a planned and step-by-step manner.

Article 40 Where state-owned barren hills, wasteland and wasteland are developed for agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery production, the long-term use may be decided by the development unit or individual with the approval of the people's government at or above the county level according to law.

Legal procedure of land expropriation

1. Notify the land requisition. Before the land acquisition is submitted for approval according to law, the local land and resources department shall inform the expropriated rural collective economic organizations and farmers in writing of the purpose, place, compensation standard and resettlement method of land acquisition. It is reported that the land expropriated by rural collective economic organizations and farmers will not be compensated for the attachments and young crops planted, planted or built on the expropriated land.

2. Confirm the results of land acquisition survey. The land and resources department shall, jointly with the transportation and forestry departments, investigate the ownership, type and area of the expropriated land and the ownership, type and quantity of the attachments on the ground. The survey results should be confirmed with rural collective economic organizations, farmers and owners of ground attachments and municipal demolition offices.

3. Organize land requisition hearings. Before the land requisition is submitted for approval according to law, the land and resources department shall inform the rural collective economic organizations and farmers of the expropriated land, and they have the right to apply for a hearing on the compensation standards and resettlement methods of the expropriated land. If a party applies for a hearing, it shall organize a hearing in accordance with the procedures and relevant requirements stipulated in the Provisions on Hearing of Land and Resources.

4. Sign the land acquisition compensation agreement. The department of land and resources shall, in accordance with the compensation standards stipulated in this plan, sign an agreement on land acquisition compensation with rural collective economic organizations and individual farmers, and report the agreement together with the amount of land acquisition as a necessary part of the land acquisition report.

5. Open land requisition approval. Except for special circumstances such as state secrecy regulations, the Provincial Department of Land and Resources will announce the approval of land acquisition to the public through the media. County (city) land and resources departments shall, in accordance with the provisions of the measures for the announcement of land acquisition, announce the approval of land acquisition by land-expropriated villages or groups.