Only then would it have the authority to manage investigations, settle complaints and denunciations and prevent and control corruption, its members found.

The new law should enhance the legal status, role, independence and responsibility of the Government Inspectorate in particular and inspection agencies in general, they said.

National Assembly Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu said the draft should be oriented toward organising inspection agencies as an independent entity closely linked to State management.

Finance and Budget Committee chairman Ha Van Hien said a mechanism to co-ordinate the receiving and exchange of information among inspection agencies was needed.

He cited an enterprise that had undergone inspection from five agencies within a month as the reason.

"The mechanism will help avoid such duplication," he said.

Hien also proposed that the new law, which will go to the National Assembly's plenary session next month for approval, clearly define the consequences for inspection agencies that flout it.

And he complained that the draft law was vague about the power and duties of the Government Inspectorate.

Article 12 says it has the power and duty to set programme orientation.

"What is programme orientation?" he asked.

In reply, General Government Inspectorate director Tran Van Truyen said the regulation was intended to enhance independence.

The inspectorate would submit its programme orientation to the Government for approval and then build it plans and programmes.

Other committee members worried about a perceived lack of clarity in the definition of forms of inspection, saying this had made the regulation of inspectorate functions, duties and power difficult.

They also worried about the possible expansion of agencies to regulate inspectorates of ministerial status.

But many participants in the committee's continuing 35th working session agreed with the draft's proposed regulations to govern the responsibilities of State management agency executives in organising inspections and making decisions.

Petitions addressed

Chief Government Inspector Tran Van Truyen told members of the National Assembly Standing Committee in Ha Noi yesterday that in the first nine months of 2010, Government agencies nationwide received about 158,000 public complaints and petitions.

The figure marks an increase of 17 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Truyen said most of the complaints and denunciations related to land disputes – accounting for about 70 per cent. The remainder involved corruption, illegal acts, violations against social policy and capital construction.

Truyen said a number of factors were responsible for the increase in public complaints and petitions.

He said, in his opinion, the main causes were Government policies and poor enforcement of the law by official agencies.

Ha Van Hien, chairman of the Economics Committee, said public officials' inefficiency and poor training were also to blame.

Meanwhile, Ksor Phuoc, chairman of the Council of Nationality, said the poor performance of officials and cadres was partly to blame for the increasing number of public complaints.

He called on the National Assembly Standing Committee to submit a proposal to the National Assembly and the Government to revamp the country's institutions and organisational systems.

Tran Dinh Dan, chairman of the National Assembly Office, wanted the NA to consider an early revision of the Land Law and the Government to focus more on ways to handle public complaints and petitions more efficiently.

Also in the morning, the NA Standing Committee heard a report by the Ombudsman Committee on its activities in 2010.

The 35th meeting of the Standing Committee comes ahead of the plenary meeting of the National Assembly on October 20. — VNS