A top central government official has pledged better protection of citizens' rights to sue officials and official actions deemed harmful to their lawful interests.

The system that facilitates citizens' legal actions against officials and government offices is known in China as the administrative trial system, based on the nation's Administrative Procedure Law.

China will become more effective in preventing local officials' influence on the administrative trials, Luo Gan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, told a high-level legal conference yesterday in Beijing. 

He also said the central government would ensure courts wield greater independent trial power to overcome any protectionist attempts by regional and industrial bureaucracies.

Addressing the same conference, Hua Jianmin, secretary-general of the State Council, called for stricter enforcement of the existing law. All chief officials of government agencies are required to be present in court whenever their agencies are accused in administrative trials, but many often send representatives in their stead.

Hua also pledged measures to facilitate administrative reconsideration and receive public supervisions.

Figures from the Supreme People's Court (SPC) show that from 2000 to 2006, Chinese courts handled nearly 639,736 administrative trials. In addition, in 34,581 cases administrative compensation was awarded to citizen victims.

However, as Luo pointed out, new strains in social relations were unavoidable in a rapidly developing country like China.

Citizens have increasingly been taking legal action against officials and government agencies, especially in the areas of urban and rural land acquisition and relocation programs, rural levies, corporate restructuring, labor relations, social security issues, and protection of natural resources, justice officials said.

Citizens were first able to sue officials in 1982, under the country's provisional civil procedural law.

The Administrative Procedure Law was enacted in April 1989 and took effect in October 1990, allowing citizens to more effectively, legally challenge officials and government agencies for violations of their rights and interests.

This was followed by China's Law on State Compensation in 1994, defining the government's compensation terms to citizens; the Law on Administrative Punishment in 1996, defining punishment on officials or government offices for violations of citizens' rights and interests; and the Administrative Reconsideration Law in 1999, defining terms for overturning incorrect administrative decisions.

(China Daily March 28, 2007)