Courts get oversight to avoid mistakes

Well over half of the administrative rulings protested by prosecutors were overturned last year, as procuratorates played a role in supervision, an official of China's top prosecuting body said on Tuesday.

Since May last year, when a revised Chinese Administrative Procedure Law took effect, prosecuting authorities have been asked to increase their efforts to point out and protest problematic verdicts or miscarriages in administrative cases, according to Xiao Wei, spokeswoman for the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Of the administrative cases protested by prosecutors, verdicts in 57.8 percent were overturned, and nearly 90 percent of alternatives suggested by prosecutors were accepted, Xiao said.

The increased supervision shows that prosecutors have "performed their duty" to protest a verdict or issue suggestions about "flawed or mistaken verdicts", she said.

"We've also smoothed our reporting channel for residents and increased reviews of administrative cases," she said.

In 2015, prosecuting authorities accepted 34,599 cases after litigants applied for supervision or review - a 1.6 percent year-on-year increase, of which 3,463 cases were related to verdict implementation, the top prosecuting authority said.

In one example, a resident surnamed Xiong, from Taoyuan county, Hunan province, applied for a supervisory review.

Xiong, whose full name was not provided by prosecutors, had appealed a case involving the county's housing management bureau in 2013, asking judges to withdraw a house registration made by his wife, surnamed Zhang, in 2007. Xiong said he didn't know about the registration until much later. The couple divorced in 2011.

The county court refused Xiong's appeal, saying he had learned of the house registration in June 2010 and should have taken legal action within the two-year limit required by law. Xiong claims the 2010 date is incorrect.

He was rejected again after appealing for a retrial at Changde Intermediate People's Court, and he subsequently requested the review by prosecutors.

As a result, the provincial High People's Court canceled the original verdicts and directed the county court to rehear the case.

Jia Xiaogang, deputy director of the SPP's Civil and Administrative Supervision Department, said the enhanced supervision of the courts is aimed at avoiding judicial mistakes.

He added that the supervision is an effective way to maintain both justice and judicial authority.

caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn