Chinese courts have handled 12 public interest litigation cases initiated by procuratorates since the country began a pilot reform in July, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Friday.
Half of the cases involved administrative litigations, including three cases concluded. The other cases included five civil public interest litigations and one with both civil and administrative litigation.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate in July last year issued a pilot reform plan to allow procuratorates to initiate public interest litigations in 13 provincial regions of the country.
The reform aims to better protect the interests of the nation and the public, especially in protection of the environment and resources, and food safety among others.
The SPC said courts took 1.25 days on average to file the public interest litigations cases initiated by procuratorates, less than the seven days of the time limit.
At a meeting held on Friday, Jiang Bixin, vice president of the SPC, urged the court system to try the cases in strict accordance with the authorization from the top legislature as well as related laws and judicial interpretations.
