Crisis no excuse to break laws

By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-08 09:00

Some officials are using the global financial crisis as an excuse to bend the rules, the Supreme People's Court said.

Courts were reminded on Monday to punish officials found guilty of misconduct after it was revealed that 100,000 administrative cases had gone to trial last year.

Zhao Daguang, chief justice of the SPC's administrative trials tribunal, said the global financial crisis had led to an increase in disputes between citizens and government officials.

"Disputes are getting more complicated," Zhao told China Daily.

"Administrative disputes directly related to people's basic livelihoods easily develop into sudden, mass and extreme accidents," Zhao said.

The court released a guideline aimed at securing the implementation of administrative policies and measures as well as safeguarding people's rights and interests, Zhao added.

Mo Yuchuan, a professor in administrative law with Renmin University of China, applauded the guideline.

"As maintaining economic growth and social stability tops the government agenda, the guideline helps balance the interests of all parties with an emphasis on not losing sight of the law," Mo said.

The guideline on administrative trials stipulates: "Courts must adhere to unified legal principles nationwide and must not indulge in acts of obvious legal violations and infringements of parties' rights and interests at the sacrifice of the law."

It said violations that use the excuse of coping with the financial crisis will lead to new local protectionism and industrial monopolization as well as harming rights and interests.

"We must rectify such violations," it said.

However, it said courts should take into consideration any flexible policies adopted by local administrative departments to cope with the crisis.

"When courts examine lawsuits by citizens, they should take into consideration the reasoning behind the decision-making process, which is usually adopted to handle emerging circumstances," the guideline said.

Mo said that an example of where the law would be applied include a county chief implementing measures that unfairly target a company under the guise of helping the industry cope with the financial crisis.

Courts were urged to pay attention to the handling of disputes including rural land acquisition and urban house relocation, the managerial right of land, forest and pastureland for migrant workers, cases involving allocation of pension funds, social security funds and basic living allowance and labor and social security disputes caused by deteriorating enterprise management.