People flex their legal rights in court

At a time when ever more citizens are turning to the legal system to address their grievances, many central government agencies have suddenly found themselves in the defendant's seat.

In one recent example, 80 farmers from Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province came to Beijing to sue the State Forestry Administration over a land rights dispute. Within a year, the two sides came to terms, and farmers returned to their homes satisfied.

He Rong, vice-president of Beijing High People's Court, told China Daily yesterday that there was nothing surprising about the situation. He noted that 24 of the central government's 28 ministerial level agencies have stood in the dock at one administrative trial or another.