A MAN gained no compensation from the city’s urban management department despite winning the lawsuit against the department which destroyed his flower field.

    The Bao’an district court said Wednesday that it was illegal for the department to destroy the flowers grown by the man, only identified by his surname Chen, but no compensation should be given as Chen’s use of the field was illegal and not protected by the law.

    Chen rented a land of 12,000 square meters several years ago and grew more than 100,000 pots of flowers on the land. However, the city’s urban management department said the land belonged to the government and Chen’s planting of flowers was illegal. The department asked Chen to remove the flowers.

    Chen chose to ignore the department for nearly two years and the department demolished the flower field March 16 last year.

    Chen then sued the department at the Bao’an court, demanding the department to compensate him 3 million yuan (US$476,190) over the loss.

    The court said although the urban management department shouldn’t destroy Chen’s flowers, Chen still had no right to get compensation because Chen’s occupation of the land and incomes made by growing flowers were illegal.

    Ma Cheng, a lawyer from Beijing Dacheng Law Firm, suggested the department not to resort to violence in law enforcement when dealing with illegal matters as it could cause disputes and damage the department’s reputation.(Wang Yuanyuan)