Forced relocation on Council's radar

• Source: Global Times
• [04:24 December 17 2009]
• Comments

By Lin Meilian

A group of scholars provided their input to officials trying to amend a relocation regulation, during a forum held Wednesday by the State Council's Legislative Affairs Office, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The forum was held after five scholars from Peking University wrote a letter to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee suggesting that the current relocation regulation should be abolished or revised to protect property owners.

But the discussion and the draft of the regulation were not disclosed to the public.

None of the forum attendants could be reached for comment Wednesday.

How and when the current relocation regulation will be amended or abolished remains unknown, the report said.

"I think it is inappropriate to keep the draft a secret," Wang Ling, a lawyer with Beijing Cailiang Law Firm who has experience with relocation cases, told the Global Times Wednesday.

"It is absolutely great news for the public," he added.

The Housing Demolition and Relocation Management Regulation has been a topic of discussion since a woman in Sichuan Province set herself on fire last month to protest against the forced demolition of her home.

At the Letters and Calls Office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, 80 percent of the petitions between 2003-06 involved relocation issues, China Newsweek reported in July.

"The biggest problem is how to define public interest in China," Wang said.