Legal regulations still make it difficult for officials to perform their duties.

Officials cannot do it because of inconsistent legal basis and regulations.

On the morning of May 23, speaking at the National Assembly's Group discussion session, delegate Lo Thi Luyen, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation in charge of Dien Bien province, stated that in Dien Bien province, there are still problems in the implementation and application of the law that have not been addressed.

The delegate said that local authorities and provincial National Assembly delegates have repeatedly reflected, expressed opinions and recommendations to the National Assembly, the Government and ministries, but there are still some practical problems that the locality does not dare to address because it is fully aware of the legal consequences if an incident occurs.

The delegate gave an example of a conflict between the decree detailing the implementation of the 2012 Law on Water Resources and the Law on Environmental Protection, when the current Law on Water Resources issued in 2012 and the amended Law in 2023, which will take effect from July 1, 2024, stipulate: Regarding the authority, order, procedures for declaration, registration, and licensing of exploration, exploitation, and use of water resources and the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection on the authority to appraise environmental impact assessment reports, both laws stipulate that the Government is responsible for detailed implementation regulations.

Delegate Lo Thi Luyen, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Dien Bien province, spoke at the discussion at Group 8. (Photo: TRUNG HUNG)

However, when the Government issues a decree detailing the implementation of the above two contents of these two laws, there are many problems with authority. Currently, no agency is assigned the authority to assess the environmental impact of hydropower plants with capacity from 2MW to less than 20MW.

Delegate Luyen said that the locality has proposed many times but has not been accepted or addressed, leading to difficulties for both state management agencies and businesses.

“With the above conflicting regulations, it cannot be said that localities, cadres and civil servants are avoiding and shirking responsibility in performing public duties. This means that they will not be able to rectify and overcome them completely because the main reason is not due to the lack of responsibility of localities and cadres and civil servants, but that they see the regulations are correct and clear but do not do them, but cannot do them because the legal basis for the regulations is inconsistent,” the delegate stated.

Scene of the discussion session at Group 8 on the morning of May 23. (Photo: DANG KHOA)

In the coming time, the Law on Water Resources 2023 will take effect from July 1, 2024, the Government will issue a decree detailing the implementation of the law. Regarding the authority to grant licenses for the exploitation and use of water resources, delegates of Dien Bien province recommended that the Government pay attention to the authority of the Provincial People's Committee in the direction of allowing the Provincial People's Committee to grant licenses for hydropower projects with a capacity of less than 20 MW to be consistent with the provisions of other legal documents.

Problems arising from legal regulations and practical application in the implementation of socio-economic development tasks need to be regularly reviewed according to the provisions of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents.

“It is important that when there is inconsistency, it is necessary to promptly amend and supplement, creating conditions for localities in implementing and applying the law, as well as creating conditions for cadres and civil servants to have a clear legal basis and basis in performing public duties, only then can we hope to overcome the situation of cadres and civil servants avoiding responsibility,” delegate Luyen emphasized.

Motivate staff to ensure quality of apparatus operations

Delegate Dong Ngoc Ba (Binh Dinh) speaks at the discussion at Group 8. (Photo: TRUNG HUNG)

Assessing the sense of responsibility and quality of work of the staff, delegate Dong Ngoc Ba (Binh Dinh) said that a number of staff are still not resolute and timely, have a mentality of avoiding, shirking responsibility, and are afraid of making mistakes. This is not a new problem, recent reports of the Government have mentioned it and have been mentioned every year but there has been no specific assessment of solutions to change it.

“Cadres must be afraid of making mistakes so as not to do wrong, but they cannot be afraid of responsibility, afraid of the work they have to do. This is not a new problem, the whole society sees it” - the delegate said and suggested that the Government must have annual reports, specific and quantitative assessments, not general ones, to handle it strictly and thoroughly to create change.

According to the delegate, in the Government report, nearly 18 thousand officials have been disciplined recently, but according to delegate Dong Ngoc Ba, it is necessary to specifically state violations of the law on civil servants and public ethics that show signs of shirking duties, evasion, and arbitrarily leaving work positions.

According to the delegate, any agency with many civil servants evading or shirking responsibility needs to take corrective measures, especially considering the responsibility of leaders and heads.

The delegate also said that the quality of staff is closely related to the quality of state apparatus operations. Therefore, it is necessary to build scientific job positions, with the right people for the right jobs, clear tasks and responsibilities for good results.

Appropriate job positions are also an indispensable premise for salary reform. If salary reform is based on an unsecured job position system, it will not ensure the efficiency of the apparatus.

In addition, it is necessary to speed up the amendment of the Law on Civil Servants to accelerate job position reform along with speeding up salary reform, delegate Dong Ngoc Ba stated.

Also mentioning solutions to overcome the situation of officials shirking and avoiding responsibility, delegate Dang Hong Sy (Binh Thuan delegation) said that the Prime Minister had issued 4 telegrams, the Minister of Home Affairs had also actively directed but there had been no clear changes.

The Binh Thuan delegation said that there were many opinions from National Assembly delegates, including the opinion of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Procuracy, to amend Article 219 of the Penal Code. In amending the law, it is necessary to add non-profit elements, which must be classified during the processing.

“If there is negativity or corruption, it must be dealt with seriously. In cases where there are errors in calculation and non-profit making, we will consider handling them appropriately. This will help civil servants become more courageous and overcome the situation where they are afraid of responsibility and avoid it,” Mr. Sy said.

The delegate said that the Land Law (amended) should also be applied soon, in which it is necessary to find a way to calculate land prices easily, thereby creating convenience for staff in the advisory agency. "If the Land Law does not have detailed instructions on the content of land price appraisal, it will be very difficult to implement later," said Mr. Sy.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/quy-dinh-phap-ly-con-gay-kho-cho-can-bo-trong-thuc-thi-nhiem-vu-post810730.html