No legal grounds for government to order closure of restaurants

The restaurants in Shangqiu are shut down to curb air pollution.[Photo/Agencies]

The government of Shangqiu in Central China's Henan province issued an order to close most of the small- and medium-sized restaurants in its urban areas "to curb air pollution". That's an absurd move that has brought inconvenience to people's lives, says Southern Metropolis Daily:

With most of the restaurants in Shangqiu closed, there is as yet no data about whether the air quality has improved. However, one thing is certain, those working and residing in Shangqiu have few places to go for a meal.

Worse, many shops and markets were closed, too, as a result of which people had to travel to suburban areas to buy bread or vegetables.

It is absurd for Shangqiu officials to try to curb air pollution in such a way. Their job is to regulate the restaurants and make sure they meet environmental standards, instead of shutting them down.

Shangqiu's move comes at a time when a central environmental inspection team has come to inspect the province and evaluate its environmental protection efforts. That arouses further suspicions that the officials are trying to hide their past misdeeds by giving the inspection team a false impression. Therefore, the closing of the restaurants should only encourage the central environmental inspection team to probe deeper.

The move should also arouse attention because it shows how de facto powerful some local officials are as they can close shops and restaurants operating legally simply by issuing an order.

But actually such an order violates the law and the shop owners can sue the local government.

It is time to further shut power in the cage so that the absurdity in Shangqiu is not repeated in the future.