Article 72 Where a land administration department fails to impose administrative penalties on violators as is required by the provisions of this Law, the land administration department of the people's government at a higher level shall have the right to order the former to decide on imposition of administrative penalties or directly impose the penalties itself and give administrative sanctions to the persons in charge of the former.

Chapter VII Legal Responsibility

Article 73 If units or individuals illegally transfer land through buying, selling or other means, their unlawful gains shall be confiscated by the land administration departments of the people's governments at or above the county level. If units or individuals, in violation of the overall plan for land utilization, convert land for agriculture to land for construction, they shall demolish, within a time limit, the structures and other installations built on the illegally transferred land and put the land back to its original state; if the conversion happens to conform to the overall plan for land utilization, the structures and other installations built on the land shall be confiscated; and the units or individuals may also be fined; the persons directly in charge and other persons directly responsible shall be given administrative sanctions in accordance with law. If the violations constitute crimes, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with law.

Article 74 Units or individuals that, in violation of the provisions of this Law, build kilns or graves on cultivated land or, without authorization, build houses, dig sand, quarry, mine or collect earth on or from the cultivated land, thus severely damaging the conditions for crop cultivation, or develop land, thus causing desertification or salinization, shall be ordered by the land administration departments of the people's governments at or above the county level to set it right or bring desertification or salinization under control within a time limit and may also be fined. If the violations constitute crimes, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with law.

Article 75 Units or individuals that, in violation of the provisions of this Law, refuse to fulfill their obligation of land recultivation shall be ordered by the land administration departments of the people's governments at or above the county level to do it within a time limit. If they fail to do so, they shall be ordered to pay charges for recultivation, which shall exclusively be used for the purpose, and they may be fined.

Article 76 Units or individuals that illegally occupy and use land without approval or with approval obtained by fraudulent means shall be ordered by the land administration departments of the people's governments at or above the county level to return such land; the ones that, in violation of the overall plan for land utilization, convert the land for agriculture to land for construction shall be ordered to demolish the structures and other installations built on the illegally occupied land within a time limit and put the land back to its original state; with regard to the ones that convert land for agriculture to land for construction, which happens to conform to the overall plan for land utilization, the structures and installations built on such land shall be confiscated, and they may also be fined; and the persons directly in charge of the said units and other persons directly responsible for the violations shall be given administrative sanctions in accordance with law; if the violations constitute crimes, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with law.

Where the land used exceeds the amount approved, the excessive portion shall be treated as land illegally used.

Article 77 Villagers who illegally occupy and use land to build residences thereon without approval or with approval obtained by fraudulent means shall be ordered by the land administration departments of the people's governments at or above the county level to return such land and demolish, within a time limit, the houses built on the land.

Where the land used exceeds the limits fixed by provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be treated as land illegally used.

Article 78 Where units or individuals that have no authority to approve requisition or use of land unlawfully approve the use of land, or they do so by overstepping their authority of approval, or they approve the use of land at variance with the purposes defined in the overall plan for land utilization, or they approve the requisition or use of land in violation of the procedure prescribed by law, the documents of such approval shall be void and the persons directly in charge of and other persons directly responsible for illegally approving such requisition and use of land shall be given administrative sanctions in accordance with law. If the violations constitute crimes, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with law. If the violations constitute crimes, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with law. The land illegally approved for use shall be taken back. If the parties concerned refuse to return the land, they shall be regarded as illegal land users.

Units or individuals that cause losses to the parties by illegally approving requisition or use of land shall bear the liability to pay compensation in accordance with law.

Article 79 Whoever embezzles or misappropriates the compensation or other relevant charges paid to a unit whose land is requisitioned, if the violation constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with law; if the violation is not serious enough to constitute a crime, he shall be given administrative sanctions in accordance with law.

Article 80 If the parties that have the right to the use of State-owned land refuse to surrender the land when it is to be taken back in accordance with law, or refuse to return the land at the expiration of the period for its temporary use, or fail to use the land in keeping with the purposes approved, the land administration departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall order them to return the land and impose a fine on them.

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