Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 23, 2002
China Drafts Law on Supervision Within Government
A draft law on supervision was submitted Friday to the ongoing 29th meeting of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for the first hearing.
A draft law on supervision was submitted Friday to the ongoing 29th meeting of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for the first hearing.
This is the first of its kind in China aimed at exercising a supervision by the NPC and its Standing Committee over the enforcement of the Constitution and laws and over the work of the government, courts and procuratorates.
"The promulgation of such a law will improve China's democratic supervisory mechanism and promote the governing of the state by law," said Wang Weicheng, chairman of the NPC Law Committee, in his report to the meeting.
Over the past 10 years or more, many lawmakers have put forwarda number of bills at the NPC sessions, calling for drawing up a law on supervision as soon as possible. The ninth NPC has received 41 bills of this kind over the past four years.
According to the Constitution, overseeing its enforcement as well as the work of all administrative, judicial and procuratorial organs of China is one of the principal tasks of the NPC and its Standing Committee.
"Even though the Constitution has laid down the basic principles, there is still no specific law to guide the national and local people's congresses," said Wang. "The law on supervision will provide a detailed legal basis for facilitating their work."
The draft law enumerates various aspects of work, including supervising the enforcement of the Constitution and laws, hearing and discussing the reports of administrative, judicial and procuratorial organs, examining and approving state and local budget plans and reports on their implementation, and supervising judicial and procuratorial work.