China's chief justice Xiao Yang on Wednesday called for speedier reforms of the justice system to ensure independent trials of lawsuits against government bodies, mainly involving cases brought by individuals.

He said courts must be allowed to try lawsuits against government bodies outside the area of the government body's authority to eliminate interference from local governments.

This would demonstrate the independence of the courts, he said

"If the lawsuits against government bodies are not tried fairly, the legitimate rights of litigants are not protected," Xiao Yang, president of China's Supreme People's Court (SPC), said at the fifth national meeting on trials of lawsuits against governments.

"Disputes between the public and government bodies, if not settled properly, will only lead to public grievances and affect social harmony and stability," Xiao said.

"They will also impair the authority of the people's courts and give the public cause to doubt the existence of social justice."

With China entering a critical stage of reform, disputes between government bodies and the public have increased in recent years, especially concerning resettlement projects, rural land seizures, and reform of company ownership, labor and social welfare, Xiao said.

He said people were becoming more aware of how to protect their rights through lawsuits and were turning more often to the justice system.

He predicted the public would resort more to lawsuits to voice grievances and he instructed all courts to fairly try lawsuits so as to ensure government bodies exercised their authority according to the law.

From 2000 to 2006, more than 639,736 lawsuits against government bodies were tried at courts of the first instance.

Source: Xinhua