A college student on Wednesday filed lawsuits against two provincial departments in Shaanxi province for not publicizing information about a local official's salary, the China Youth Daily reported.

On Sept 1, Liu Yanfeng, a student at China Three Gorges University in Yichang, Hubei province, filed an application with the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Finance and the Shaanxi Provincial Administration for Work Safety asking for information regarding Yang Dacai's annual salary.

Both departments declined to provide the information.

Yang, a senior work safety official, came under fire from netizens after pictures emerged of him wearing at least 11 expensive wristwatches.

Yang later said that he had bought the watches with his salary.

On Sept 21, he was dismissed from his post for "serious discipline violations".

Liu said that it was illegal for the two provincial departments to reject his application and asked local courts in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi, to order the two departments to answer his request.

"I want to protect the citizens' rights of knowing and overseeing government affairs, and maintain the solemnity of the law," Liu said.