It is good news that local legislators in Jiangsu Province have extended people's rights to file complaints about public services.

 

In its latest review of the local decree on public complaints lodged via letters or visits, the standing committee of the provincial people's congress reportedly rejected a motion stipulating that all complaints must be filed in a "level-by-level" manner, so that people do not skip the immediate local leadership.

 

It has been replaced in the revised draft of the document by a clause stating that complaints can be made to the immediate, or higher level of the authorities, which is consistent with the wording of the State Council's Regulations on Letters and Visits.

 

From Beijing to the provinces, the authorities used to prefer that dissatisfied citizens first have their grievances taken care of by the local authorities who are directly responsible.

 

That is understandable to some extent.

 

Once a complaint is filed, there has to be reaction. In order to present a sensible reply, higher authorities always have to pass the complaint back, level by level, to where an infringement, or perceived harm, occurred.

 

That is in most cases necessary, at least for investigative purposes.

 

Referring grassroots-level problems to authorities levels above sometimes unnecessarily prolongs the reaction, leading to an extra workload and a waste of public resources.

 

We are not unfamiliar with such seemingly unlikely cases as a disgruntled farmer from a remote rural neighborhood going all the way to Beijing to seek justice in a dispute with a village cadre.

 

In fact, many, if not all, of the special offices established by central government departments to hear public complaints were once overwhelmed by visitors, most of whom had chosen to skip the authorities involved in the dispute.

 

The State Council took a commendable step last year when it avoided incorporating a clause prohibiting complainants from bypassing their immediate authorities in its own regulations.

 

We cannot ignore the truth that in quite a few cases, people chose to overstep their immediate authorities because they are the very cause of the problem.

 

In such cases, imposing a compulsory "level-by-level" approach would deprive citizens of a precious alternative to have their woes heard and addressed.

 

We are gratified that Jiangsu's legislators did not water down this important right to make complaints. At the same time, we are concerned there are still some places yet to update their decrees to guarantee such an essential civil right.

 

(China Daily May 31, 2006)