Experts urge passage of new demolition rule
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Experts are calling for the quick passage of a new draft land requisition regulation, after more bloodshed occurred during recent home demolitions.
About eight months after a draft amendment to the existing Regulation on Demolishing Urban Housing was published to seek public input in January, legal experts said legislators should be more attentive to the public's requirements and answer doubts over the new draft regulation having been "strangled in the cradle".
"The new draft regulation is meant to expand the protection of the property owner's rights. The public's and the media's constant attention to the subject shows how much people care about it," said Wang Xixin, a law professor at Peking University.
"We hope the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council will be responsive to the public, instead of putting an end to the new draft regulation without any explanation."
Five Peking University law professors, including Wang, suggested the revision last year, after the death of Sichuan native Tang Fuzhen, who set herself on fire to protest the demolition of her house.
Some officials from the State Council Legislative Affairs Office hinted early this year the new regulation might be adopted in June, but no official information about the regulation has been announced since the draft regulation was made public.
Experts said the delay is due to resistance from local governments, which routinely sell land to make money.
