Door about to close on forced home demolitions
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Ying Songnian, a senior legal expert on administrative laws who helped compose the first draft of the administrative coercion law, told China Daily that the latest draft was "close to implementation, despite minor defects".
In the latest draft, the power to use coercive measures rests with "legislatures at national and local levels", a move hailed by legal experts as "great progress" because it will restrain local government bodies and ministries under the central government from misusing administrative coercive power.
The State Council, China's Cabinet, can approve such evictions in certain circumstances.
Zhan Zhongle, a professor of administrative law at Peking University, told China Daily that administrations responsible for social management are facing increasing challenges and more and more complicated social circumstances.
"For this reason, government departments hope they can be authorized to have administrative power equal to their rising responsibilities and challenges," he said.
For instance, the draft law entrusts chengguan, or urban management officers, to carry out administrative coercive measures, including closing down places and facilities and impounding property, as stipulated in laws and local regulations.
"Such stipulations may be necessary for the daily work of chengguan officers but that could lead to power being abused," Zhan said.
In recent years, chengguan officers have frequently been blamed for violent law enforcement, causing conflicts and even deaths in connection with their efforts to keep unlicensed vendors off city streets.
Zhan added: "It (the latest draft) can be seen as an attempt from the top legislature to restrain administrative coercive power on one hand, and to maintain their ability to undertake social management on the other."
He admitted that discrepancies between the expectations of the administrations and the top legislature were a major reason why the draft law's passage had been so slow.
"It is one of the most long-awaited laws in China's legal history. It has been more than 12 years since my colleagues and I started to draft the first version in the 1990s," said the 75-year-old Ying.
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