Administrative Litigation Vision (III) | Administrative Litigation Plaintiff Qualification

The qualification of the plaintiff in administrative litigation refers to the qualification of the plaintiff to file an administrative lawsuit, also known as the plaintiff's qualification, which is a necessary element for citizens, legal persons and other organizations to request the court to protect their legitimate rights and interests infringed by administrative acts. The scope of the plaintiff's qualification determines the scope of the subject under judicial protection. For the prosecutor, it determines who can request the court to protect their legitimate rights and interests in their own name. For the court, it is the court to accept the prosecution. The basis determines which people can be accepted by the court.

The plaintiff qualification of administrative litigation is the basis of the administrative litigation system, it is an issue of administrative litigation procedure, which does not involve substantive issues. Recognition of the plaintiff's qualifications does not amount to recognition of the plaintiff's right to prevail. Whether the plaintiff is qualified or not directly determines whether the case can enter the litigation procedure. If the plaintiff is not qualified, the court directly decides not to accept the case or dismiss the lawsuit after accepting it.

The plaintiff in administrative litigation is one of the participants in administrative litigation, and not all citizens, legal persons or other organizations can bring a lawsuit against the administrative act of the administrative organ. The qualification of plaintiff in administrative litigation is a key issue related to who is qualified to initiate the judicial review of administrative actions. The essence is how to deal with the relationship between citizenship and administrative power, judicial power and administrative power.

The establishment of the qualification of the plaintiff in administrative litigation should not be too wide or too narrow. It is necessary to balance the relationship between protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the relative person, preventing the abuse of administrative litigation procedures, and avoiding hindering administrative efficiency. An accurate definition of the plaintiff qualification in administrative litigation is conducive to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of citizens and supervising the administration of administrative organs in accordance with the law.

The first paragraph of Article 25 of the "Administrative Litigation Law" stipulates: "The counterpart of an administrative act and other citizens, legal persons or other organizations that have an interest in the administrative act have the right to file a lawsuit." This is the general provision of the law of our country to the subject with the qualification of plaintiff in administrative litigation. According to this provision, two conditions must be met for the plaintiff qualification of administrative litigation, one is that the subject should be the administrative counterpart or other citizens, legal persons or other organizations, and the other is that it has an interest in the administrative act. Therefore, to have the qualification of the plaintiff subject of administrative litigation, the following conditions need to be met at the same time:

The ability of litigation rights, also known as the ability of the parties or the ability to participate in litigation, refers to the ability of the parties to obtain the legal status of the plaintiff or defendant in the litigation, here refers to the ability to obtain the legal status of the plaintiff. As far as the plaintiff in administrative litigation is concerned, the subjects with the ability to litigate can only be citizens, legal persons and other organizations. Under special circumstances, the law also provides rights remedies for the deceased and terminated legal persons and other organizations that no longer have the ability to rights. The second and third paragraphs of Article 25 of the "Administrative Procedure Law" stipulate that if a citizen who has the right to bring a lawsuit dies, his close relatives may bring a lawsuit. If the legal person or other organization that has the right to bring a lawsuit terminates, the legal person or other organization that has the right to inherit it may bring a lawsuit.

It should be noted that administrative litigation is not a simple type of litigation of "people suing officials". Administrative agencies (such as legal persons in the type of legal persons) can also act as plaintiffs against other administrative entities, that is, "officials suing officials". The ability of administrative litigation rights is the same as the ability of civil litigation rights, and the subject who does not have the ability of litigation rights cannot bring a lawsuit as a plaintiff.

Litigation capacity, also known as litigation capacity, is the ability of the parties to participate in litigation in person or appoint an agent to exercise their litigation rights and assume litigation obligations with their own actions. Citizens who bring a lawsuit need to have the ability to litigate, those who do not have the ability to litigate cannot bring a lawsuit in their own name, and their legal representatives are required to act on their behalf.

Whether it is the administrative counterpart or other citizens, legal persons and other organizations that can initiate administrative litigation, they must have an interest in the administrative act they sue. The element of interest is the core element of the plaintiff's qualification in administrative litigation, and it is also the difficult and controversial point to judge the plaintiff's subject qualification. Combined with legal theory and trial practice, the elements of interest are summarized:

1. Existence of a right or interest conferred and protected by a law

If the rights and interests of the plaintiff to claim relief are not required to be protected by law, then even if the plaintiff believes that the administrative action has caused damage to himself, there is no need to resort to justice for protection. Such interests are generally limited to public law interests, but may be extended to private law interests where there are special provisions in the law. For example, the administrative act being sued as stipulated in Article 12, Paragraph 1 of the Interpretation of the Administrative Litigation Law involves its neighboring rights or the right to fair competition.

2. The right or interest is vested in the plaintiff and the plaintiff brings the action in his own interest.

The plaintiff must bring a lawsuit for his own rights and interests. If he sues for the interests of others or the public, he shall not be qualified as a plaintiff.

Taking complaints and reports as an example, Article 12, Item 5 of the Judicial Interpretation of the Administrative Litigation Law stipulates that "in order to protect one's own legitimate rights and interests, the administrative agency with the responsibility of handling complaints has made or failed to deal with the complaint" is related to the administration. One of the situations in which the act has an interest. If complaints and reports are to have the elements of interest, the whistleblower must be for his own legitimate rights and interests [see (2013) case no 14 of line he zi].

The "Meeting of the First Circuit Court of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Administrative Trial Law" issued on July 23, 2018 explained the plaintiff qualification of the whistleblower. As consumers, recipients of services, competitors, victims, or claimants of rewards for reporting matters, in order to safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests, report the illegal acts of operators to administrative organs with statutory powers of investigation and punishment, whistleblowers who apply for government information disclosure on the handling of reported matters shall have an interest in the government information disclosure reply or non-reply act of the statutory authority, and shall be qualified as a plaintiff. Ordinary citizens only use the constitutional right to report and accuse to the statutory authority to report the illegal business activities of the operator and request to be investigated and dealt with. The whistleblower applies for government information disclosure on the handling of the reported matter, usually with the statutory authority. The government information disclosure response behavior or non-response behavior has no interest and does not have the plaintiff qualification. However, the administrative organ promises to have a reward for reporting, except for the whistleblower who applies for the disclosure of relevant information for obtaining the reward.

3. The right or interest may have been infringed by the accused administrative act and the law requires the administrative organ to take such interest into account when it acts.

With regard to the standard of proof of evidence submitted by the prosecutor at the prosecution stage to prove that his legitimate rights and interests have been infringed, as long as the prosecutor in administrative litigation has provided preliminary evidence to prove that his legitimate rights and interests are likely to be infringed, it is not required to fully prove that his legitimate rights and interests have actually been infringed [see (2016) Supreme Law Law Application No. 1759].

In addition, the rights and interests to be protected by the plaintiff must be the rights and interests to be protected by the law that the administrative organ needs to consider when making the administrative act, that is, whether the administrative organ is required to consider, respect and protect the rights and interests to be protected by the plaintiff when making the administrative act and whether the administrative organ is required to consider, respect and protect the rights and interests to be protected by the plaintiff if it needs to be considered, on the contrary, it does not have [see (2017) the highest law line application No. 169].

4. Other circumstances with the qualification of plaintiff in administrative litigation as prescribed by law

(1) Administrative public interest litigation

The third paragraph of Article 25 of the administrative procedure law stipulates that the people's Procuratorate shall have the qualification of plaintiff in administrative litigation for the interests of the state or the public interest.

(2) Plaintiff qualification of lessee

In the "Meeting of the First Circuit Court of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Administrative Trial Law", it is generally believed that the lessee has no interest in the expropriation decision, the expropriation compensation decision, the expropriation compensation agreement behavior, and the compulsory demolition of the house, and does not have the plaintiff qualification. However, if the lessee has an inseparable and significant addition to the expropriated house, or independently carries out business activities in the leased house in accordance with the law, or forcibly demolishes the house, the lessee has an interest in the expropriation decision, the expropriation compensation decision, the expropriation compensation agreement and the compulsory demolition of the house, and has the qualification of the plaintiff.

The people's court may, at any stage of the proceedings, examine ex officio whether the plaintiff has the capacity to participate. If the plaintiff is found to be incapable of participation, the prosecution does not meet the statutory conditions, and the people's court may rule to dismiss the prosecution without further review of other prosecution conditions and without notifying the defendant to reply.

Referring to (2017) the Supreme Law Bank Shen No. 6549 case, the retrial applicant filed an administrative lawsuit in the name of "Huaiyang County No.2 Chemical Fertilizer Plant", claiming that although he did not apply for a business license, he was a "collective enterprise" of the Moto Commune ". The Supreme People's Court believes that "obtaining a business license after registration in accordance with the law" is a legal condition for township enterprises and street enterprises to become "other organizations. Therefore, the court of first instance ruled to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the retrial applicant filed a lawsuit in the name of Huaiyang County No. 2 Fertilizer Plant, but could not provide a legal business license and could not prove that Huaiyang County No. 2 Fertilizer Plant had the status of a legal person or other organization.

After determining that the plaintiff has the ability to participate in litigation, it is often necessary to focus on the "interest relationship" between the plaintiff and the accused administrative act, which is limited to legal interests and does not include reflective interests. Except for special circumstances, it only means that citizens, legal persons or other organizations have an interest in public law with administrative acts and form a relationship of rights and obligations in the field of public law, and they are not satisfied with the administrative act, and they have the right to bring administrative proceedings. The following is an analysis and interpretation of "no public law stake" in the light of laws and regulations and typical cases.

1. If a citizen, legal person or other organization files an administrative lawsuit on the site selection opinion of the construction project of the urban and rural planning department on the ground of infringement of environmental rights, it is generally considered that there is no legal interest.

With reference to (2017) the Supreme Law Application No. 4361 case, the Supreme Court proposed that only when the rights and interests that the prosecutor claims to protect fall within the scope of protection of the legal norms of the administrative entity on which the administrative organ makes the administrative act, the prosecutor has the qualification of the plaintiff. On the other hand, if the prosecutor has certain rights and interests, but it is not the administrative organ that needs to consider when making the administrative act, or if the prosecutor does not have the rights and interests that the administrative organ needs to consider when making the administrative act, the people's court should not recognize the plaintiff's subject qualification.

2. After the original legal representative of a state-owned enterprise is removed from office, he cannot bring an administrative lawsuit in the name of the enterprise.

With reference to (2016) the Supreme Law Law No. 2057 case, after the original legal representative of a state-owned enterprise was removed from his post, he used the invalidated official seal to file an administrative lawsuit in the name of the company, which is not an expression of the true meaning of the enterprise, and the original legal representative does not have the qualification of plaintiff. And if the establishment and establishment of the company has no legal interest with the individual citizen, the citizen cannot file an administrative lawsuit in the name of the individual against the administrative agency's approval and decision to establish the company.

3. Retired faculty and staff of public schools who are dissatisfied with the cancellation of public schools by the people's government at or above the county level and file an administrative lawsuit do not have the qualifications of the plaintiff

Referring to (2016) the case of Supreme Law Application No. 359, according to the provisions of the Education Law and in combination with local conditions, the government's actions such as the establishment, modification and termination of primary and secondary schools within its jurisdiction are aimed at the public institution legal person of the secondary school under its direct management, and do not infringe upon the personal rights and property rights enjoyed by the retired teaching staff of the secondary school. Therefore, there is no legal basis for the retired teaching staff to file a lawsuit in their personal name, does not have the plaintiff subject qualification.

4. The people's government's approval of the transfer of part of the company's equity has not had a direct impact on the rights and obligations of the company's ordinary creditors. At this time, the general creditor does not have the plaintiff's subject qualification to bring an administrative lawsuit.

Referring to the case of He Zongyu v. Zhumadian Municipal People's Government for approving the transfer of state-owned shares, the Supreme People's Court believes that Zhumadian Municipal People's Government's approval of the transfer of 80% shares of Dongfang Company will lead to the change of internal shareholders and the change of shareholders' shareholding ratio of Dongfang Company, but will not affect the creditor's rights and interests of the company's creditors. Dongfang Company, as an independent enterprise legal person, will not change or eliminate the civil subject of its property, nor will it have a direct impact on the rights and obligations of ordinary creditors of Eastern Company. Therefore, the applicant for retrial does not have the qualification of the plaintiff to bring the administrative action in this case.

5. The original owner has no interest in the government's recovery of the right to use state-owned land after the house has been expropriated.

Referring to Xiong Zongqiang's case of land administration and administrative reconsideration of the respondent Yichang Municipal People's Government and Hubei Provincial People's Government, the Supreme People's Court held that the people's government's expropriation decision directly led to the legal effect of the change of real right, and the ownership of the relevant house belonged to the state, and the expropriated person no longer enjoyed the ownership of his house. The expropriation of urban houses also means the recovery of the right to use construction land. If the houses are expropriated according to law, the right to use state-owned land is also recovered at the same time. If the original land use right holder is not satisfied with the expropriation decision and compensation behavior, he can protect his legitimate rights and interests through administrative reconsideration, administrative litigation and other legal channels, but for the original house owner or land use right holder to sue the administrative organ after the house is expropriated according to law The act of recovering the state-owned land use right or the higher-level government's approval for the recovery of the land use right, because it no longer has an interest, its appeal will not be supported by the court.

6. There is no legal interest between the land leaseholder and the cancellation of the collective land use certificate.

Referring to the case of Gao Heping and Han Xiaopeng v. Anyang Wenfeng District People's Government of Land Administration, the Supreme Court held that Gao Heping and Han Xiaopeng, as land leaseholders, had no legal interest in the cancellation of the collective land use certificate, and that the two did not have the qualification of the plaintiff to file a lawsuit in this case.

7. The land use right holder or house owner involved in the construction of the project has no interest in the approval of the project.

With reference to Liu Guangming v. Zhangjiagang Municipal People's Government's administrative reconsideration proposal, the court of second instance held that the project application unit must rely on the project filing notice issued by the project filing authority and go through the land, environmental protection, planning and other procedures in accordance with the law before starting construction. The development and construction cannot be implemented when the act of issuing the filing notice is made, and the construction can only be started after the follow-up procedures must be completed in accordance with the law. Therefore, the filing and approval behavior does not have a relationship of rights and obligations in administrative law to the appellant, and it is not allowed to apply for administrative reconsideration or file an administrative lawsuit on the grounds that the project approval behavior infringes on his land use right or house ownership.

The origin of the administrative litigation system, after all, is to provide legal protection for each subject whose own rights have been infringed, and it focuses more on the relief of the rights of the administrative counterpart. After determining that the plaintiff has the ability to participate in litigation, the determination of the plaintiff's qualification in administrative litigation mainly revolves around the "interest. The so-called "interest" can be simply understood as the possibility of being adversely affected by administrative actions. How to judge whether there is a "stake", generally also refer to the relevant laws and regulations in the specific administrative field, and even local regulations to make a comprehensive judgment.