IN three court cases Zhang Zhe successfully established his claim to the title of his family's ancestral home. But the local Government has not only failed to enforce the court's decision in each case, it has overturned the last one without any legal grounds and denied any possibility of appeal, the Nanfang Weekly reported.
The Zhang family's home was seized in the early 1950s. In the early 1970s, Zhang Tingxin began proceedings to reclaim it from the Miyang City Tax Bureau, which occupied it, and in 1994 his efforts bore fruit when the bureau issued an order returning the house.
None of the Zhangs tried to move in until 1996, when Zhang Tingxin sold the house to another scion of the family, Zhang Zhe. But Guo Fuxiang, a retired cadre who had been living there, refused to budge. Mr Zhang Zhe agreed to let Mr Guo live in the house for two more years.
In late 1998, more than two years later, Mr Guo still refused to leave. When Mr Zhang Zhe appealed to the tax bureau, it reneged on its earlier decision, saying the chief who issued the order had 'made a wrong decision and exceeded his authority'.
Mr Zhang Zhe sued the tax bureau and won. The court instructed Mr Guo to move out and compensate Mr Zhang Zhe. Mr Guo appealed, and the case was tried again at Zhumadian Intermediate Court, but the lower court's decision was upheld.
A month later Mr Zhang Zhe received a document from the Miyang City Construction Bureau stating that the house still belonged to the tax bureau and that his title had been invalidated.
