This year China's top legislature will give priority to supervision over rural development and sci-tech innovation, China's top lawmaker said Thursday.

Authorized by the Constitution to supervise law-enforcement and the operation of governmental and judicial organs, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee will work in line with the highest priority of the central government, said Wu, chairman of the committee, in his annual work report.

Building new countryside and bolstering scientific and technological innovation are on top of the agenda in the country's 11th Five-Year (2006-2010) Guidelines for national economic and social development.

Wu said the NPC Standing Committee will in this year inspect the implementation of laws on land contract and land management, and a variety of policies of the central authorities in the favor of agricultural work.

In a bid to help fulfill the goal of building an innovation- oriented country, the NPC Standing Committee will examine the implementation of law on patent, and discuss reports on enhancing innovation capacity and on spreading compulsory education in 2006, Wu said.

Also in 2006, the NPC Standing Committee will launch inspection tours to see how the energy law and law on the prevention and control of solid wastes are carried out, so as to help build a resources-saving and environment-friendly society, he said.

To promote judicial justice, the legislature will make inspections to ensure the good behavior of judges and procurators in 2006.

The NPC Standing Committee will also examine the application of laws on ethnic minority regional autonomy and on protecting the interests of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives in 2006, he said.

Supervision on budget and economic work will be further strengthened in 2006. The NPC Standing Committee will hear and deliberate reports on the final accounting of revenue and expenditure and on audit, and strengthen supervision on budget system, tax reform, payment transfer and national debt balance, Wu said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2006)