【 Reason for recommendation 】

This case is a typical administrative dispute involving the revocation of government information disclosure in response to the construction of a legal environment and the emphasis on government transparency by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. After accepting the client's commission, our lawyer conducted a specific analysis of the case and believed that the "Notice of Information Disclosure Response" involved in the case had been responded to in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Government Information Disclosure". The facts, procedures, laws, and regulations were determined to be correct, and relevant defense opinions and evidence were organized within the statutory time limit. In the end, the court basically adopted our lawyer's agency opinion, obtained a winning judgment, and achieved satisfactory results for the client.


[Principal] (Defendant): The People's Government of a certain township in Chaoyang District, Beijing (hereinafter referred to as the "Township Government")


[Counterparty] (Plaintiff): Mr. Jin (hereinafter referred to as "Mr. Jin")



The first instance court held that the "Notice" made by the township government was illegal and revoked, as requested by the opposing party; 2. Order the township government to provide the information documents requested by Mr. Jin for public disclosure.



The first instance court has determined the basic facts of the case

On November 15, 2019, Jin submitted a government information disclosure application to the township government to obtain the distribution details and valid vouchers of compensation fees, incentive fees, transition fees, and other categories of compensation fees for all contracted households of the ****** project, as well as the detailed list of personnel resettlement housing areas and purchase vouchers held by the * * * People's Government. On the same day, the township government made and delivered the Information Disclosure (2019) No. * * - Registration Receipt to Jin, informing him that the township government would provide a written response before * * *, and that if the response deadline needed to be extended, it would be notified separately.

During the response period, the township government searched through the directory of archived documents, manually searched for relevant department archived documents one by one, and searched for electronic archives. However, no information consistent with Jin's application was found, and it was believed that the details of the distribution of compensation fees for other categories held by the people's government, as well as the application content of the detailed list of personnel resettlement housing area and purchase voucher, were not clear enough. After the township government staff communicated with Jin over the phone to clarify the application matters, Jin still did not clarify the specific content. Therefore, the township government has no way to search for this item. Afterwards, the township government, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information of the People's Republic of China", made a response to Jin's application for government information disclosure (2019) No. * * within the statutory response period, informing him that the information he applied for did not exist and explaining the reasons, and sent it to Jin by mail in accordance with the law.

On June 3, 2020, Jin filed an administrative lawsuit with the People's Court against the content of the "Reply Notice to the Government Information Disclosure Application" involved in the case.

[Opinion of our lawyer's representative]

1. The "Notice" issued by the township government should be upheld for its clear factual findings, legitimate procedures, correct application of laws and regulations. In this case, on November 15, 2019, Mr. Jin submitted a government information disclosure application to the township government to obtain the distribution details and valid vouchers of all types of compensation fees such as compensation fees, reward fees, transition fees, and other types of compensation fees for all contracted households of the ***** project, as well as the detailed list of personnel resettlement housing area and purchase vouchers held by the * * People's Government. On the same day, the township government made and delivered Information Disclosure (2019) No. * * - Registration Receipt to Mr. Jin, informing him that the township government would make a written response before * * *, and if the response deadline needs to be extended, it will be notified separately.

2. During the response period, the township government searched through the directory of archived documents, manually searched for relevant department archived documents one by one, and searched for electronic archives. However, no information was found that matched the "Detailed List of Housing Compensation Fees, Incentive Fees, Transit Fees, and Personnel Placement Housing Areas and Purchase Vouchers for All Signed Households of ***** Project" that they applied for. Afterwards, the township government conducted a special inquiry with relevant departments and leaders based on the information provided by Mr. Jin's application. It was learned that the main development system of the ***** project involved in Mr. Jin's application was * * * Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. The relocation of the project was entrusted by * * * Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. as the specific person responsible for implementation. The confirmation and distribution of relocation compensation, agreement signing, compensation rewards and other expenses related to the project, as well as all matters related to the purchase of existing resettlement houses, were all carried out by * * * * Company, while the purchase of pre-sale resettlement houses involved in the project was handled by * * * Real Estate Development Co., Ltd**** Neither Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. nor ***** Company has transferred the relevant archival materials to the township government. The township government has never produced, obtained, or saved any information regarding the "detailed list of compensation fees, incentive fees, transition fees, and personnel resettlement housing area and purchase vouchers for all contracted households of ***** project". However, regarding the information related to the distribution details and valid vouchers of compensation fees for other categories held by the * * * People's Government to households that Jin applied for, due to the unclear content of this item, the township government staff communicated with Jin over the phone to clarify the application matters, but Jin has not yet clarified the specific content. Therefore, the township government has no way to search for this item. Based on the aforementioned facts and the provisions of Article 36, Paragraph 4 of the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information, the township government issued a "Notice" to Jin on [date], informing him that the government information he applied for disclosure does not exist in this administrative agency and explaining the relevant reasons. For matters that are unclear in the application, he was informed that he can reapply after clarification. The township government mailed a "Notice" to Mr. Jin on the same day. From this, it can be seen that the township government has strictly followed the legal procedures stipulated in the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information and fulfilled the obligation of government information disclosure as an administrative organ. At the same time, the township government clearly informed the plaintiff's application matters and fully explained the relevant reasons in the information disclosure response letter. Therefore, the facts of the "Notice of Case" made by the township government are clear, the evidence is sufficient, the procedures are legal, and the application of the law is correct, which should be upheld.

3. The facts and reasons for Jin's lawsuit are unfounded. The ****** project described by Jin is implemented and carried out by ***** Company, a third party, as the subject of the project's relocation compensation and resettlement. The signing of the relocation agreement, the distribution of compensation and rewards, and the purchase of resettlement housing are all implemented by the person in charge of the relocation. The purchase of resettlement housing in the future is directly handled by * * * Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., the development subject of the project. The township government is not the main body of project development and relocation, and has not signed relocation agreements or purchase agreements for resettlement housing. It has not issued relocation related fees, nor has it obtained relevant information. Therefore, the reason why Jin requested the revocation of the defendant's response notice is not valid.

4. Jin has filed this lawsuit beyond the statutory filing deadline. According to Article 46 of the Administrative Litigation Law of the People's Republic of China, "If a citizen, legal person, or other organization directly files a lawsuit with a people's court, they shall file it within six months from the date they knew or should have known that the administrative action was taken." In this case, the township government made and served a notice of involvement to Mr. Jin on [date], and Mr. Jin filed this administrative lawsuit beyond the statutory filing deadline.

Summary of the Judgment

1. According to Article 4 of the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information, people's governments at all levels shall establish and improve the government information disclosure system of their administrative organs, and designate institutions to be responsible for the daily work of government information disclosure of their administrative organs. The defendant township government, as a first level people's government, has the legal responsibility to carry out government information disclosure work.  

2. Article 30 of the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information stipulates that if the content of a government information disclosure application is unclear, the administrative organ shall provide guidance and explanation, and notify the applicant to make corrections within 7 working days from the date of receiving the application, explaining the matters that need to be corrected and the reasonable deadline for correction. If the applicant fails to make corrections within the prescribed time without justifiable reasons, it shall be deemed as giving up the application, and the administrative agency shall no longer process the government information application. According to the provisions of Article 36, item (4), if there is no information to be disclosed in the application for government information disclosure after searching, the applicant shall be informed that the government information does not exist.

3. In this case, regarding the information about Jin's application for public disclosure of "compensation fees, reward fees, transition fees, and all other types of expenses for all contracted households of the ***** project, as well as a detailed list of personnel resettlement housing areas and purchase vouchers", the township government searched for the information in Jin's application through the digital archive system and searched for relevant department archives on site one by one. Based on this, they retrieved the eviction materials involved in the case and the "Situation Explanation" issued by the ***** eviction office and ***** company. According to the search and verification results, it has been confirmed that the implementing entity for the residential relocation of the ***** project is ***** Real Estate Development Company, and the relocation of the project is ****** Company. The determination and distribution of compensation and reward fees related to the project, the purchase of resettlement housing (current housing), and the production of archives are the responsibility of ***** Company. The purchase of resettlement housing (future housing) involved in the project is contracted and processed by ***** Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. Therefore, the conclusion drawn by the township government based on this that the information requested by Jin does not exist is not inappropriate.

Regarding Jin's application for the distribution details and valid vouchers of other types of compensation fee information held by the * * * People's Government to households, due to the ambiguity of the application content, in the case where Jin clearly refused to make corrections, the township government informed Jin in accordance with Article 30 of the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information that it was deemed to have abandoned the information application and would not be processed again.

【 Judgment Result 】

Reject all of Jin's lawsuit requests.