In a sign that the Chinese authorities are increasingly aware of and concerned with the failure of local officials to adequately deal with complaints from the public, at least two sets of newly approved regulations include specific provisions aimed at preventing officials from “passing the buck.” The growing tendency of local officials to ignore, divert or procrastinate over legitimate complaints from the public is clearly at variance with Beijing’s stated desire to create a “harmonious society” and has only served to increase social tensions and further erode the public’s confidence in the government.
On June 8, the State Council approved the Regulations on Implementing the Administrative Review Law, which will give the public the right to ask for an official review of any government decision or action they feel infringed on their rights. To ensure that officials do address complaints from the public in a timely and effective manner, the regulations state explicitly that department heads may be sacked if their office is dilatory in the execution of its duties.
Earlier in the week, the Standing Committee of the Shanxi Provincial People’s Congress, for the first time, approved regulations designed to “protect the rights of migrant workers” in the province. The regulations give migrant workers the right to file a complaint with the courts or relevant government department if their newly acquired legal rights are infringed upon. And “departmental officials must deal with complaints from migrant workers in a timely manner, without procrastination or evasion, and if the complaint does not fall within their purview, they should notify the complainant of the appropriate department,” the Legal Daily reported.
There has been a huge upsurge in complaints from the public over the last few years and “passing the buck” has become a commensurately common method of officials wishing to avoid the issue. In a classic example, CLB Director Han Dongfang, interviewed villagers near Guangzhou embroiled in a land dispute with local officials who they accused of “making private profit at public expense.” The villagers filed numerous complaints with the city government but the city government gave the case to the district government, who passed it on to district sub-office, who asked village level officials to deal with it. Not only was the case never dealt with to the satisfaction of the villagers, the local police secretly detained two village representatives and forced another two into hiding. To hear the interview in full, go to the workers’ voices section of our Chinese website.