The court rulings of more than 50 out of 100 civil cases in China remain on paper only.

The figure in Shanghai is 40 percent, said Chen Xu, a deputy to the National People's Congress and deputy secretary-general of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. The grave situation of non- performance has seriously undermined the authority in the administration of justice.

It is often than not a case of loss of money in suing enterprises that renege on debt, said Hu Pingxi, another NPC deputy and governor of Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank. Only about 12 percent of the bank vs. state enterprise cases are performed. When seen from the economics angle, it is the government that pays enterprises to answer lawsuits while the court has become a "scape-goat".

Wang Wuding, another NPC deputy from the boom Pudong New Area of Shanghai, said that courts should work their brains to have the ruling of more cases performed and lawmakers should also think about how to provide legal guarantee for the performance of court rulings, how to shorten the rein of debt evaders and how to coordinate steps of other departments.

Local protectionism and sectoral protectionism have also made it difficult for the courts to execute the rulings as the receipts and expenditure of local courts are controlled by local finances.

Inadequate overhead expenses of courts is another important reason for the inability of enforcing the law, said Li Daoming, an NPC deputy and president of Henan Provincial Higher People's Court.

Up to the end of 2002, the wage in arrears in 101 local courts in Henan Province totaled 47.57 million yuan. "This has not only held back the capabilities of courts in hearing cases and in enforcing the court rulings but also resulted in partiality in enforcing the law and even in violation of the law in handling cases," Li said.

(People's Daily March 14, 2004)