Some citizens complained that the moonlight was too bright and affected their sleep, and some parents requested that the exam be reorganized because their children’s college entrance examination scores were not satisfactory… In recent years, some complaints beyond the scope of government services have poured into the 12345 hotline. Recently, many places are exploring ways to solve this problem and give hotlines the right to say “no” through various methods.
On October 29, the 12345 government service hotline in Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia announced that it would not accept work orders in a new phase. Tongliao 12345 stated that the hotline often receives complaints that exceed reasonable limits or conflict with laws and regulations, which not only increases the burden on grassroots work, but also seriously wastes public resources. On October 30, Yangjiang, Guangdong Province announced the “ten no-answer” guidelines for the 12345 hotline, clarifying 10 categories of matters that are beyond the scope of government responsibilities and repeated appeals that have been completed without new basis. Jiangsu handles this through local regulations and regulations hotline.
From clarifying matters that will not be accepted to standardizing work order processing and assessment mechanisms, many places have drawn acceptance boundaries for the 12345 hotline, releasing a signal to further standardize and optimize local government service convenience hotlines to better respond to the reasonable demands of the masses.
“The hotline is not a ‘wishing fountain.'” Chen Qiaoqi, director of the hotline service center of the Yangjiang Municipal Government in Guangdong Province, said that the Yangjiang 12345 hotline receives 530,000 complaints every year, and the list is formulated to clarify the boundaries of acceptance.
Ma Liang, a professor at the School of Government at Peking University, pointed out that the government service hotline is only one of the many channels through which citizens can report problems. “Just because the government service hotline is efficient, it is not reasonable to collect all kinds of appeals here and request them to be handled.”
Research by Chen Feng, dean of the School of Social Sciences at Beijing University of Technology, and his team found that some matters beyond the scope of grassroots responsibilities were repeatedly transferred, increasing the cost of public governance.
The “Jiangsu Province 12345 Hotline Regulations” that came into effect on June 1 this year stipulates that claimants are not allowed to use hotline resources repeatedly or occupy hotline resources for a long time without legitimate reasons. For a complaint that has been handled, if the same complainant repeatedly raises the same complaint without new circumstances or new reasons, the hotline agency will inform the complainant of the handling status and relevant basis of the complaint based on the written reply provided by the undertaking unit, and no repeated orders will be dispatched for the complaint.
In October, Sichuan Ya’an promoted “reduce quantity and improve quality” of grassroots work orders on the 12345 hotline, and established an assessment orientation that “does not pursue high satisfaction and resolution rates one-sidedly”.
Ma Liang believes that if the procedures are reasonable and the operations are standardized, even if the citizens are not satisfied with the results of the processing, the service personnel should not simply be deducted points or held accountable.
Yu Qi, a permanent associate professor at Peking University Law School, said that the public satisfaction rate is an important indicator for evaluating the effectiveness of hotline management, but high satisfaction rates cannot be pursued one-sidedly. “The hotline assessment should not simply stop at satisfaction or dissatisfaction, but should be further refined to distinguish the public’s evaluation of different aspects such as handling results, handling procedures, and handling efficiency.”
Yu Qi said that if the people’s demands cannot be substantively satisfied, it should also be verified whether the accepting agency handles the matter in a timely manner, follows legal procedures, ascertains the facts, provides necessary explanations, and whether the handling decision is legal and reasonable. In addition, it should be examined whether the handling agency has fulfilled the necessary duty of care to avoid substituting formal legality for substantive responses. If important circumstances that should have been identified are omitted due to negligence, resulting in obvious improper handling or failure to touch the core of the complaint, it can still be evaluated as insufficient performance of duties.
What channels should the masses use to resolve disputes that are not directly handled by administrative agencies?
Recently, two convenience drinking fountains were out of service in a community in Changping District, Beijing, affecting more than 700 residents. Disputes such as the validity of the contract and performance responsibilities between the property owner and the manufacturer are civil legal relations and are not matters that administrative agencies can directly adjudicate. Residents reported problems through the 12345 hotline. Relying on the local “double litigation and double integration” co-governance mechanism, this dispute was resolved.
Judge Li Qiang of the Case Filing Division (Litigation Service Center) of the People’s Court of Changping District, Beijing, told reporters that the local “Dual Litigation and Dual Integration” co-governance workstation guides legal and litigation-related disputes reported by the 12345 hotline into judicial mediation. The court and the street jointly sorted out the case, and under the guidance of the judge, the people’s mediator went to the site for inspection and mediation. Finally, the Changping District People’s Court issued a civil mediation letter in accordance with the law.
Li Qiang said that the 12345 hotline is mainly a portal for complaints. Generally, disputes are mediated by the community on the spot. If the disputes involve law and litigation and multiple mediations fail, they can be imported into the co-governance workstation and the court will provide professional support. After successful mediation, a mediation letter will be issued or judicial confirmation will be issued in accordance with the law.
In December 2020, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Further Optimizing the Local Government Service Convenience Hotline”, which clarified that the 12345 hotline does not replace departmental functions, and will not accept matters that must be resolved through litigation, arbitration and other procedures. Administrative mediation and law enforcement case-handling matters will not unilaterally pursue satisfaction rates.
Yu Qi said that the 12345 hotline is a unified entrance that integrates the acceptance channels of various government departments. Whether the hotline accepts the case and whether the administrative agency has the legal responsibility to handle it are two issues at different levels. For mass appeals involving civil disputes, it should be distinguished whether they include matters that administrative agencies have regulatory responsibilities in accordance with the law; for disputes that do not fall within the jurisdiction of administrative agencies, the hotline can provide explanations and guide the masses to resolve them through appropriate channels.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Liu Yinheng Source: China Youth Daily
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