Reflecting on the past sometimes provides food for thought in our future work.

In that vein, an investigative report by the People's Court of Chaoyang District in Beijing sheds light on some violations of legal procedure in the demolition of buildings at Xiushui Garment Market.

The outdoor market in East Beijing, which had been popular with foreigners for silk products, was demolished in January 2005.

According to this report , the demolition was based on inconsistent local government regulations. The court issued this report after rejecting a lawsuit against the demolition filed by more than 150 stall-owners.

In its first notice to evacuate the self-employed sellers from the market, the chengguan (urban management and supervision department) of the district labeled the market as a complex of illegal buildings by citing the municipal government regulations on urban planning.

But the actual decision to tear down the market was made on the grounds that the market did not meet municipal environmental and sanitary standards.

Such inconsistency damages the sanctity of the decision, and at the same time reveals the decision-makers' lack of respect for legal procedure.

It is right and necessary to demolish illegal buildings, which mess up the urban environment and landscape. Yet in the process of getting rid of them, the right legal procedure must be followed lest otherwise legal moves become an illegal act and the rights of relevant parties be infringed upon.

It is a frequent occurrence that various administrative departments jointly issue a notice for the coercive demolition of an illegal building.

But caution must be employed in launching such a joint action. When some departments involved are not legally entitled to get involved, the action could be problematic in legal procedure.

The food for thought in these cases is that government administrative departments must get to know their own jurisdictions, and their employees must be educated to observe proper legal procedures in the execution of administrative rules.

Only by observing the right legal procedure can government departments be prevented from abusing their power and fairness be guaranteed for all involved.

(China Daily October 18, 2006)