Government departments that exceed personnel quotas or keep "dead souls" on the payroll will be heavily penalized, according to a new regulation unveiled yesterday.

Staff quotas are set for government units in accordance with their workload. However, some departments have flouted the rules by hiring excessive numbers of staff, well beyond their needs.

The regulation, which came into effect on February 13, was jointly issued by the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform (SCOPSR) and the Ministry of Supervision.

It also aims to supervise and redress the problem of "dead souls" people who get paid out of government coffers after they retire. In some cases, former staff member's families have received their salary after they have died.

This is the country's first law supervising governments at all levels. 

Wu Zhilun, deputy director of SCOPSR, said the regulation followed apparent attempts by some government departments to create more plum leadership positions than required.

"In some places, there is even a director and another dozen of his deputies," he said.

Individuals who suspect violations in the workplace are encouraged to tip off local government staff supervision organizations, or call the number 12310.

Wu said that SCOPSR received about 6,400 whistleblowing calls last year, of which about one-third were valid.

Most of the cases were referred to local governments to deal with, he said.

Wu said priority supervision for government workforce quotas was needed at town or rural level.

China's full abolishment of the agriculture tax in 2005, which reduced the workload for many rural officials, prompted a rural workforce restructure at grassroots level.

"Thus, a large amount of redundant people exist at the local level," he said.

Qu Wanxiang, vice-minister of supervision, said that corruption often lurked behind such quota violations.

"Some officials sell quotas to seek personal gain or abuse their power to arrange for their relatives to take more positions," he said.

Qu said that the ministry will consider another regulation later, and would specify penalties for different violations.

In another development, Qu confirmed that a state-level corruption prevention bureau, which would come under the direct leadership of the State Council, would be established within the year.

(China Daily March 28, 2007)