National government’s petition for injunction against Henoko permit withdrawal “unlawful,” say 110 administrative law experts in public statement

National government’s petition for injunction against Henoko permit withdrawal “unlawful,” say 110 administrative law experts in public statement

(From left) Senshu University Professor Hiroyuki Shirafuji, Nagoya University Professor Emeritus Kenji Kamino, Chuo University Professor Tadasu Watari, and Waseda University Professor Masanori Okada announce a statement decrying the national government’s abuse of the administrative complaint review system on October 26 at the National Diet


 

October 27, 2018 Ryukyu Shimpo

 

(Tokyo) On October 26, 110 administrative law experts from around the country published a statement criticizing the Okinawa Defense Bureau’s submission to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of a request for review and petition for an injunction based on the Administrative Complaint Review Act as “an abuse of a relief system meant to restore citizens’ rights and a flouting of the rule of law.”

 

The statement calls on the minister to dismiss the Defense Bureau’s complaint. It explains that the Administrative Complaint Review Act explicitly does not apply to dispositions rendered to administrative organs having a “distinct status,” and criticizes the Defense Bureau’s request for review and petition for an injunction as “an unlawful act.”

The statement questions the fact that the Defense Bureau made its complaint to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism when these are both national administrative organs, and states that “objectivity, impartiality, and fairness, which are particularly required of an agency connected with proceedings, will be impaired.”

 

 

In 2015, when the Okinawa prefectural government cancelled the Henoko land reclamation authorization and the Defense Bureau took countermeasures similar to those it has taken in the present instance, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism quickly ordered an injunction, allowing the construction to be resumed; meanwhile, the request for review was withdrawn as a result of an out-of-court settlement in 2016, and during that entire period the minister made no ruling on its lawfulness.

The statement takes this history as evidence that impartiality cannot be expected of the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

 

 

Nagoya University Professor Emeritus Kenji Kamino, Chuo University Professor Tadasu Watari, Waseda University Professor Masanori Okada, and Senshu University Professor Hiroyuki Shirafuji, four of the ten researchers who drew up the statement, held a press conference at the National Diet on October 26.

 

 

Professor Kamino explained that many supporters added their names to the statement during the short period following completion of the draft on October 23, stating, “there were many administrative law experts who felt that the situation is truly deplorable. That response is very important.”

 

 

Experts published a similar statement when the Defense Bureau submitted a request for review and petition for an injunction based on the Administrative Complaint Review Act to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism after former Governor Takeshi Onaga cancelled the land reclamation authorization in 2015.

 

(English translation by T&CT and Sandi Aritza)

 

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