EJE LAW (Attorneys Mun Sung Kim and Nam Hong Kim) successfully represented the plaintiff in an administrative lawsuit seeking the cancellation of a farmland disposition order issued by the Mayor of Jeju City, with the court ruling in favor of the plaintiff on July 17, 2024.

The key issues in this case were as follows:

Where the owner of farmland fails to use the land for agricultural management, the administrative authority shall, pursuant to Article 10 of the Farmland Act, notify the landowner of an obligation to dispose of the land by specifying a disposition period. If the landowner does not dispose of the farmland within the prescribed period, the administrative authority shall issue a disposition order under Article 11 of the Farmland Act, requiring the landowner to dispose of the farmland. However, if the landowner is using the farmland for agricultural management, the administrative authority shall grant a deferral of the disposition order in accordance with Article 12 of the Farmland Act.

In this case, the landowner did not dispose of the farmland within the disposition period prescribed under the Farmland Act, but began to use the farmland for agricultural management after the expiration of that period. The key legal issue was whether, under such circumstances, the administrative authority is obligated to issue a disposition order pursuant to Article 11 of the Farmland Act on the grounds that the landowner failed to dispose of the farmland within the designated period, or whether the authority must grant a deferral of the disposition order pursuant to Article 12 of the Farmland Act, considering that the landowner subsequently began using the farmland for agricultural management.

The court of first instance held that “even where the landowner did not use the farmland for agricultural management during the disposition period, if the landowner commenced agricultural use of the farmland after the expiration of the disposition period but before the issuance of the disposition order, a deferral of the disposition order under Article 12 of the Farmland Act may still be granted.” The appellate court affirmed the judgment of the court of first instance in its entirety.

As the Mayor of Jeju City did not file an appeal to the Supreme Court, the appellate court’s judgment became final and binding.

For more detailed information on the court's decision and related articles, please refer to the following link:

■ Related Article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/Case-curation/200367