Government agencies in Shenzhen lost 142 lawsuits in administrative dispute cases in 2018, such as information disclosure, and administrative approvals, punishments and executions, a news conference held by Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court at Shenzhen Administrative Trial Center was told yesterday.
Among the 3,030 cases that took effect in 2018, the cases that ruled against government agencies made up 4.7 percent, according to Wang Huiyi, vice president of Yantian District People’s Court, at the news conference.
Shenzhen courts at two levels concluded 9,131 administrative cases in 2018, an increase of 4 percent over the previous year, according to the conference.
Wang introduced 10 typical cases and hoped related government agencies would examine and find the problems in their work.
Among the 10 cases, eight were ruled in favor of individuals or corporate legal entities.
In December 2015, local resident Zhang Zhi requested the city government disclose the site location plan for the construction of Shenzhen East Garbage Incineration Power Plant.
However, the city government, which had approved the plan, rejected the request, saying the information related to the power plant was still under discussion, and wasn’t subject to disclosure to public. Zhang brought the government to court, which ruled in favor of Zhang. In the verdict, the trial center said the government is obliged to provide evidence. The city government, on one hand, refused to disclose its approvals, and on the other hand, couldn’t prove the project that Zhang requested be disclosed was not the one it had approved.
In another case in May 2016, the center ruled Futian market supervision bureau withdraw its administrative decision.
After a resident named Yuan Yifeng accused a businessman of price fraud, the bureau didn’t file the case based on the excuse that Yuan’s allegation couldn’t be confirmed because the businessman had disappeared.
Yuan brought the bureau to court. The court said the bureau was capable of finding the businessman who had operated the online shop through the third-party online platform, but instead, the bureau shirked its responsibility using the excuse that the businessman couldn’t be found.
In a move to implement the spirit of the rule of law and judiciary reform, Shenzhen inaugurated Shenzhen Administrative Trial Center, the first of its type in China, last September to handle administrative cases.