Lawsuits bloom under regional litigation process

Pilot program aims to protect independence of judges' verdicts, strengthen rule of law

The number of disputes in which residents sued regional governmental departments - legal actions that were once difficult to file - has surged in Shanghai and Beijing thanks to special courts set up in the two municipalities to hear such cases.

In the past, administrative cases in which a district's government was named as the defendant were handled by the court at the district level. But now, such disputes are sent to Shanghai No 3 Intermediate People's Court and Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court as part of a pilot program aimed at judicial reform.