Execution of any law involves power. There is no exception with
what chengguan (urban management) officers do when imposing fines
for violations of urban management rules.
The controversy on how these officers should use their power is
actually about to what extent their power can be defined and
confined.
This explains why the Beijing municipal government issued a rule
on the exact area chengguan officers can exercise their urban
management power and how such power should be exercised in a
reasonable and civilized manner.
The current chengguan system was introduced 10 years ago. The
rules are made on the basis of experience and lessons accumulated
in the past decade to strike a balance between the execution of
administrative rules and providing service, and between imposing
penalties and educating offenders not to commit the same offense
again.
On this principle, the rules have specifications prohibiting
chengguan officers from abusing their power and leaving channels
for the penalized to appeal their cases, and the residents to
report any irregularities by chengguan officers.
The rules reiterate that chengguan officers do not handle money
in fines on principle, and those who are penalized must go to banks
to pay the fines. This specification that has already been endorsed
in other relevant laws, plugs the loophole that chengguan officers
may pocket the money for their own use.
But a lack of detailed specifications on how chengguan officers
should handle the small sums of money in fines that do not go
directly to the government's coffer through the banks needs to be
given more thought. This is because street peddlers without
licenses often become targets for such fines and they are unlikely
to pay their fines to the banks.
Without detailed specifications about how to impose and collect
fines from these people, this is an area where chengguan officers
could likely abuse their power.
What needs to be further clarified by the rules is the fact that
there is no connection between the amount of money from the fines
and the bonuses chengguan officers get.
What is even more important but lacking in the rules is in what
specific way should the chengguan's work be gauged.
(China Daily December 6, 2007)