Central authorities are making it easier for Chinese individuals to sue government officials, according to an article by China Daily. Officials are looking into streamlining the system to remove unnecessary barriers once a suit is registered.
The process started last May when authorities handed a guideline that requires courts to accept disputes straight after a suit is registered, not after a preliminary review that examines the suit's merits.
The rule, however, led to a sharp increase in filed disputes, usually involving complaints against government departments, said Li Shaoping, vice president of the Supreme People's Court.
Last year, 241,000 administrative cases were heard by courts all over the country, a 60-percent year-on-year increase, according to a work report by the top court presented during the annual session of legislature last month.
"The things residents appealed most often in the past--house demolition and administrative information disclosure--have been made easier," said Li in an interview with China Daily.
The sharp increase on administrative cases also led to other difficulties. For one, a high number of cases have led to work-related stress on the judges, of which there are only a limited number.
"This makes us to think about new ways to further smooth the difficulty of case filing," said Li.
To promote professionalism and efficiency among courts, the government launched the Beijing No 4 Immediate People's Court. Cases that involve a government body as a defendant in any of Beijing's 16 districts go directly to this pilot reform site.
As of March 31, district governments in Beijing were named as defendants in 1,397 administrative lawsuits. Issues involved included the disclosure of administrative information as well as compensation for home removals, said Wu Zaicun, the court's president. In addition, 611 of the 1,397 cases named Haidian District as defendant, closely followed by Chaoyang District.
"They are in the middle of reforms in urban management, so it's easier to produce disputes," said Wu. Over 25 percent of the cases won against the government.
"Some governments lost the lawsuits because of illegal procedures in handling administrative affairs, while some failed because their actions were not on line with the law," added Wu. "The hearings are a good place to examine the governments' behavior."