Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) called on government agencies yesterday to speed up their handling of petitions filed by ordinary citizens seeking resolution or redress on various problems.
To better protect people’s rights and improve government efficiency, Liu said that all Cabinet-level agencies must improve the content of statutes governing public petitions, improve bureaucratic handling of petitions and move forward deadlines for the screening and ruling of petitions to as early a date as possible.
Topping the list of 3,170 petitions filed last year were 506 from people who were complaining about restrictions on their right to travel abroad because of tax evasion disputes, a report on petition handling by the government last year said.
The second-largest type of petitions concerned Chinese spouses’ applications to obtain the right to come to Taiwan for family reunion and permanent settlement. There were 353 such cases, the report said.
Cases involving foreign workers’ employment problems made up the third-largest group of petitions, totaling 203, the report showed.
So far this year, agencies under the Executive Yuan have handled 3,976 petitions, including 806 old cases.
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