| In 1989,the Administrative Litigation Law explicitly stated that mediation was not applicable in administrative litigation.In 2014,Article 60 of the Administrative Litigation Law legalized the mediation system and stipulated that three types of cases could apply mediation,establishing a limited mediation system.In 2018,the Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Application of the Administrative Litigation Law of the People’s Republic of China further improving the administrative litigation mediation system and making more specific provisions on the mediation process and mediation agreements.China’s administrative litigation mediation system is a concrete manifestation of flexibility and inclusiveness in building a diversified dispute resolution mechanism.The current legislation’s original intention was to limit the application of the mediation system.However,in the practice of administrative litigation,there has been an excessive use of mediation at the expense of judgments for the sake of pursuing mediation intentionally.The deviations of the administrative litigation mediation system in judicial practice are mainly manifested in: violating the principle of prohibition of mediation,occurrences of unprincipled mediation and involuntary mediation;violating the statutory types of cases that can be mediated,where the court did not choose to make a judgment directly in the case of clear facts and obvious violations by the administrative authorities,but chose to resolve the administrative dispute through mediation;relaxing the limits of mediation,breaking through the bottom line to resolve disputes,ignoring the protection of the legitimate interests of the parties or public interests;creating mediation forms,where in judicial practice,administrative mediation agreements are rarely used to conclude cases,and the majority adopt coordination,settlement,or withdrawal of lawsuits.It can be seen that the administrative litigation mediation system has been excessively applied in practice,putting public interests at risk,diluting the clarity of rules of judgment,weakening the guiding role of legal rules,and even sometimes undermining the authority of the law.Undeniably,administrative litigation mediation has played a positive role in resolving administrative disputes,but the "unlimited" application of mediation poses a great threat to the rule of law.Therefore,we need to start from the purpose of the administrative litigation mediation system,reflect on the current situation of China’s administrative litigation mediation,timely adjust our understanding,and resolve the risk of contradictions while adhering to the limits and bottom line of mediation.This article advocates preventing the excessive use or abuse of the mediation system through the public evaluation system of administrative litigation mediation agreements and the mandatory accompanying judicial advice system,preventing harm to public interests,and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the parties. |
