Don't neglect public interest, courts told

Chinese courts have been ordered to increase their efforts to handle public-interest lawsuits brought by prosecuting authorities, after a successful pilot program was rolled out nationwide.

The two-year pilot program, which started in July 2015 after approval by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, gave prosecutors the power to sue poorly performing government departments and business agencies. The idea was to improve compliance with the law by administrators and factories.

"In the test period, more civil and administrative cases were brought by prosecuting authorities, which has contributed a lot to pushing government departments to do their jobs and effectively protect the public interest," Jiang Bixin, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, said on Tuesday.