Beleaguered farmers faced with the loss of their land to urban construction have been handed a lifeline from a Beijing court, the Beijing Morning Post reported Tuesday.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court overturned a ruling by the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) that the 150 farmers from east China's Jiangsu Province had no grounds to stop their village committee from selling their land.

The farmers, led by the 68-year-old Hu Xuemei from Hongjiao Village, Wuxi, did not know that local government leaders had requisitioned 12 hectares of land for development until they saw a public bulletin posted on street information boards.

The farmers sent a letter of protest to the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), which approves requisitions, but were told they had failed to appeal within the 60-day time limit.

The farmers argued that they saw the ministry's approval of the requisition on May 21 last year at the Wuxi Land and Resources Bureau. They mailed the application for administrative reconsideration in July.

The farmers then filed a lawsuit against the ministry with the Beijing court late last year.

The court ruled last Friday that the farmers' appeal was lodged within the time limit.

"The ministry will accept the farmers' application in light of the court judgment," said Long Bing, an official from the MLR.

"Improper land requisition is causing serious social problems. Revisions should be made to existing laws and regulations on land use to protect farmers' rights during the urbanization process," said Professor Ren Dapeng of China Agricultural University. "To protect farmers' rights, the principles of equality and fairness should be honored in the requisition system."

The country's rapid urbanization has seen millions of hectares of land swallowed up by developers, affecting millions of farmers and often leaving them without land.

About 166,000 to 200,000 hectares of land are needed for urban construction annually. That means that 2.5 to 3 million farmers lose their land each year.

(China Daily March 22, 2005)