Government and Policy

Judges told to resist meddling in public lawsuits

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-22 20:08

GUANGZHOU - China's Chief Justice has told judges to resist meddling and interference from local authorities who try to impede public litigation against them.

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Courts and judges nationwide must properly handle "administrative litigations" to fully protect the public's rights and supervision of administrative bodies, said Wang Shengjun, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), in a letter to a national judicial work conference on administrative lawsuits.

Public complaints and petitions over court decisions on administrative litigation should be taken seriously in order to develop a lasting mechanism for resolving disputes, Wang said in the letter to the conference Saturday in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province.

One of the major functions of administrative litigation was to supervise the government practice and to correct legal violations, SPC Vice President Jiang Bixin told the conference.

Courts should deal with cases strictly according to the law, and partiality to the government was harmful to the government's work as well to social stability, Jiang said.

He urged the judiciary to oppose "local policies" upholding protectionism, or meddling from local authorities, in trials.

Jiang also told judges to promptly correct any mistakes in their trials and adjudications.

"Only by admitting and correcting wrongs can the justice department win the trust from the people," Jiang said.

The SPC Saturday launched a campaign to deal with such complaints and petitions, which will run till the end of the year.