The Supreme People's Court introduced a new method to the administration of clerks working in people's courts, a senior judicial official said Monday in Beijing.

The new method stipulates that newly registered clerks will now be required to be appointed under a uniform system.

Previously, the court clerk promotion mechanism followed the pattern of "clerk, assistant judge, judge."

The new measures focus on the foundation of an exclusive administration for court clerks, said Su Zelin, director of the political department under the Supreme People's Court.

He said that under the new administrative mechanism, newly recruited clerks will be appointed as civil servants and their authorized number and promotion issues will be resolved.

"The old clerk administrative system cannot fit into the reform and construction of the judicial system," said Song Jianchao, deputy director of the political department of the Court.

Under the old system, court clerks did not have a separate promotion mechanism which made more and more clerks want to become judges because their rank could be upgraded by being promoted to judges, said Su.

The unqualified clerks could never be dismissed as long as they were recruited in the beginning and did not make a severe mistake, said Su, adding that this had resulted in the overall poor quality of clerks.

The measures also clarify the duty for clerks by stipulating that court clerks are assistants mainly in charge of court records, said Su.

(China Daily October 28, 2003)