Town government wins lawsuit against county government, pilot court's exclusion of administrative interference shows results.
Administrative litigation with the government as the defendant has become commonplace, but administrative litigation in which the plaintiff is also a government is relatively rare. Yesterday, the administrative case in which the Jianghong Town Government of Suixi County, Zhanjiang, sued the Suixi County Government was heard at first instance at the People's Court of Zhanjiang Economic and Technological Development Zone. The presiding judge, Zhang Ming, president of the Development Zone Court, issued a judgment in court: revoking the "Suifu (2014) No. 40 Handling Decision" made by the Suixi County Government, which is to say, the Jianghong Town Government won its lawsuit against the county government. This is the first administrative case of a "lower-level government suing a higher-level government" accepted by the Zhanjiang Development Zone Court since it became Guangdong's first pilot court for "centralized jurisdiction over first-instance administrative cases."
This case stems from a land dispute dating back more than 30 years. The disputed land is located southeast of Shatang Village, Gulao Village Committee, Jianghong Town, covering an area of approximately 21 mu. In 1980, Shatang Village of the then Gulao Commune in Suixi County signed an Agreement with the former Gulao Commune, stipulating that Shatang Village would cede a parcel of land to the commune for the construction of its administrative site and a market. In 1983, the former Gulao Commune was abolished (and subsequently replaced by Jianghong Town Government). Following several changes to the local administrative divisions, the land became the subject of a four-party dispute over land ownership involving the Shatang Villagers' Group of Gulao Village, Jianghong Town, the Gulao Village Committee, the Jianghong Town People's Government, and the Zhongyi Villagers' Group of the Gulao Village Committee.
On July 6, 2013, Shatang Village applied to Suixi County Government for confirmation of rights over the disputed land. On October 13, 2014, Suixi County People's Government issued the Sui Fu (2014) No. 40 Decision (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision"), allocating the rights and interests in the land among Guliang Village Committee, Shatang Village, and Zhongyi Villager Group. Suixi County Government decided as follows: 1. The ownership and use rights of the forest land (1 mu) at the southwest corner of the disputed land belong to Zhongyi Village; 2. The ownership and use rights of the 737.12 square meters of land used by Guliang Village Committee for its office building within the disputed land belong to Guliang Village Committee; 3. The ownership and use rights of the remaining land within the disputed area belong to the Shatang Village collective; 4. The trees planted by Zhongyi Village on the land allocated to Shatang Village shall be cleared within 30 days from the date the Decision takes legal effect; 5. The roads within the disputed land shall remain in their current condition. Jianghong Town Government, Guliang Village Committee, and Zhongyi Village were all dissatisfied with the Decision and applied to Zhanjiang Municipal People's Government for administrative reconsideration. On January 8, Zhanjiang Municipal Government decided to uphold the Decision. Dissatisfied with this outcome, Jianghong Town Government filed a lawsuit against Suixi County Government, requesting the court to revoke the Decision made by Suixi County People's Government.
[5] After the court hearing, the court ruled in court to revoke items two, three, and four of the "Handling Decision," but dismissed the other claims of the Jianghong Town Government. After the ruling that day, both the Jianghong Town Government and the Suixi County Government stated they would accept the judgment.
[6] (Guangzhou Daily)
The pilot project of judicial exclusion of administrative intervention has achieved initial results.
The Zhanjiang Economic Development Zone Court is the first grassroots court in Guangdong Province to implement "centralized jurisdiction over first-instance administrative cases." The pilot program began on November 21 last year, and as of March 19 this year, the court has accepted 170 administrative cases of various types. According to Shen Biqing, head of the Administrative Division of the Zhanjiang Economic Development Zone Court, in order to address the challenge of "officials being sued but not appearing in court," the Development Zone Court has assigned its president and vice presidents to serve as presiding judges, thereby compelling administrative chiefs to appear in court. Cases in which the president or vice presidents served as presiding judges totaled 24, accounting for 35.3% of administrative litigation cases. Administrative chiefs appeared in court to respond to lawsuits in 9 cases, representing 30% of cases that have gone to trial — a figure that stood at zero before centralized jurisdiction was implemented.
Data shows that after centralized jurisdiction, the rate of administrative agencies losing cases increased significantly to 21%, compared to 4% to 8% before centralized jurisdiction. “This indicates that centralized jurisdiction has enhanced the courts’ ability to resist administrative interference,” said Zhang Ming. The number of administrative litigation cases accepted by the court in three months was equivalent to 35.4% of the total cases accepted by the city’s basic-level courts in the previous year, while the number of judges was only one-third of the original total for the city’s basic-level courts. The average caseload per judge increased threefold, and it is expected that after the registration and filing system for administrative cases takes effect on May 1, the number of administrative litigation cases will surge even further.
