The protection of public interests and participation in decision-making processes should be highlighted in the country's updated urban demolition draft regulation to curb forced land seizures, legal experts have said.

A panel of eight professors from the Constitution and Administrative Law Center of Peking University is expected to deliver a proposal to the State Council Legislative Affairs Office on Monday. They will offer their suggestions on the second draft revision of the urban housing demolition regulation, which authorities opened for public feedback from Dec 15 until Dec 30.

About 8,000 suggestions had been received as of 6 pm on Sunday, the office's website reported. The proposal marks the second time for Peking University law professors to offer suggestions on the demolition regulation.

Five of the eight professors submitted an open letter to the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress, at the end of last year. The letter suggested the urban housing demolition regulation be revised, after the death of Sichuan native Tang Fuzhen, who set herself ablaze to protest her home's forced demolition in November 2009.

After receiving the letter, the State Council Legislative Affairs Office published the regulation's first draft revision for public discussion in January.

Jiang Ming'an, a Peking University administrative law professor and coauthor of the proposal, told China Daily "fairness" and "openness" are their second proposal's keywords.

They suggest deleting "national security and socioeconomic development" as eviction premises. In addition, the proposal further specifies land seizures can only be undertaken for the sake of the "public interest".

The proposal states: "It's a loophole that the first draft does not specify commercial land use, which gives way to business development, and, in some cases, the land approved for public use is later used for commercial purposes."

The proposal also suggests including "transparent procedures" and "public hearings" as primary principles to enable the general public, and especially property owners, to "effectively take part" in the decision-making process.

The proposal said it is one-sided to publish only a demolition's compensation plan. Instead, the whole demolition procedure should be made public, except when national security is involved.

"Public hearings are necessary to better protect public interests, because the solicitation of public opinions - land users' only means to express their views in the current legislative system -- is sometimes ineffective," said Shen Kui, who is also a Peking University law professor and coauthor of the proposal.

Chinese Academy of Governance professor Zhu Lijia said forced demolitions are a "major cause" of mass incidents in the country. So it is necessary for the government to work out "comprehensive and fundamental rules" to curb disputes and maintain social stability, Zhu said.

A series of bloody conflicts caused by forced demolitions has unfolded across the country in recent years, causing deaths and social concerns about the current regulation's legitimacy.

"But it will be difficult to change, because local governments are stakeholders, whose revenues are heavily tied to land acquisitions," Zhu said.

(China Daily December 27, 2010)