Resident-vs-government suits spurred by new law

Lawsuits against central and Beijing government departments have substantially increased since a law was adopted last year easing residents’ path to challenge official administrations in court.

Beijing courts agreed to hear 10,786 administrative disputes from May 1, 2015, when the Chinese Administrative Procedure Law took effect, to April 20, a year-on-year increase of 111 percent, according to a Beijing High People’s Court report issued on Friday.

According to the report, the central government was named as defendant in 1,866 cases — up by 450 percent year-on-year — and Beijing municipal departments in 526 cases — a 525 percent increase.

The surge in such litigation must be attributed to the revised law, under which superior authorities can be simultaneously named as defendants along with their directly involved local counterparts, said Lou Yuhong, chief judge of the Administrative Case Tribunal at the Beijing court.

“Residents can apply to the higher authority for a review if they find a district bureau has erred in its work. Previously, the district bureau would be the only defendant if residents turned to the courts,” Lou said.

About 30 percent of the administrative lawsuits heard last year concerned government failures, she said, “which means mistakes and illegal behavior still exist in some administrations and residents are aware of their enhanced rights to protect themselves in court”.

Most administrative disputes heard in the city’s courts in the past year regarded people’s rights in civil affairs related to urban construction, taxes, education, labor services or social protection, she said, and around 20 percent regarded information provided by government entities.

In one case, a Beijing resident surnamed Han sued the Haidian district government in Beijing’s No 1 Intermediate People’s Court because the information it provided him on a civil matter differed from that it gave a friend on the same question.

“During the hearing, we found that the response Han received was correct, but incomplete,” said Qi Ying, deputy chief judge at the administrative tribunal.

“It’s not that governments refuse to give information, but that some of their disclosures are inaccurate,” Qi said.

Lou said that such administrative cases previously often took more than six months to resolve, but they can now be finished within two.

More governments have opened their work to the public since the new law took effect, she said. In addition, heads of government departments sued by residents are expected to appear in court when their cases are heard, “which is another big requirement and progress brought by the new law,” she said.

So far, officials have made court appearances in 587 lawsuits, and in 60 such cases they were heads of administrations, the report said.