The Supreme People's Court has decided not to establish any more people's tribunals, representative offices of grassroots people's courts, in cities, but to open new ones in less populated areas, Xinhua News Agency reported on April 10.

How and where to set up rural people's tribunals will be determined by local governments, said a supreme court official, which also have the right to maintain and abolish current tribunals in cities.

The initial purpose of establishing people's tribunals was to give people filing lawsuits in more remote areas better access to the court system. However, many have been set up alongside grassroots people's courts, resulting in duplication and redundancy.

Some people's tribunals only have one or two judges and working staff and poor facilities, which may contribute to an unsound working environment that could encourage unlawful and malfeasant activities.

Professor Zhou Daoluan from the National Judicial College said the supreme court had considered and discussed strengthening the people's tribunal system for a long time.

According to its requirements, a people's tribunal: must have three or more judges, one clerk and, if possible, a bailiff; must have dedicated premises for trials and administration, as well as necessary means of transport and communication; and should have accepted and heard no less than 200 cases in the past three years, though mountainous, grassland and other remote areas can have this figure adjusted by local higher people's courts.

Present tribunals that can't meet the above criteria will be abolished unless there are local reasons that they should be lowered, since there is still a big gap in economic development between eastern, western and central regions.

Eighty percent of cases handled nationwide were heard by grassroots courts and their representative offices, but the majority of misjudged cases came from the grassroots level.

The Supreme People's Court has asked grassroots people's courts to strengthen circuit trials to compensate for the closure of some people's tribunals.

Zhou said the supreme court's decision to establish people's tribunals in rural and marginal areas is in line with central government policies to strengthen the agricultural sector.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, April 18, 2005)