Ombudsman heads can stay in jobs, court rules

By THE NATION

 

CDC spokesman Chartchai Na Chiangmai

 

BANGKOK: -- THE NEW ORGANIC law governing the Office of the Ombudsman, which allows the current president and Ombudsman to continue their tenures in office, is not unconstitutional, the Constitutional Court ruled yesterday.

The case had been taken to the court by 36 members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) last month after a question was raised over whether it would be constitutional to allow the president and the Ombudsman to stay on. 

 

The new charter requires members of independent agencies who fail to meet new qualifications, as addressed in the charter, to leave office, and the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) has been writing related organic laws in line with that stipulation.

 

CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan explained that, so far, the CDC had only written into law the removal of members of one agency -– the National Human Rights Commission – because international issues were involved. Members of another agency, the Election Commission, faced a similar fate after a proposal by the NLA itself.

 

The 36 NLA legislators viewed that the new charter already gave power to the organic law to determine the matter.

 

The original draft written by the CDC stipulated that the Ombudsman’s office should be reset if the incumbents failed to meet the new qualifications, and a new president and Ombudsman should be recruited.

 

Meechai said the court’s ruling on the Ombudsman law just upheld the NLA’s authority to dictate whether to remove or maintain members of independent agencies. The CDC thus could not raise any objection, he said.

 

Whether this would become the model for other organic laws depended solely on the NLA’s deliberations, Meechai said.

 

The CDC chairman insisted that the organic laws governing the next National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the Constitutional Court should state that those who did not meet the new stipulations should leave office as set down in the charter. 

 

But it would depend on the NLA how it would revise the draft law before it passed the required three readings, he said. 

 

Meechai declined to comment whether the ruling could cause a future constitutional crisis. He said he would need to see the full verdict first.

 

In a separate interview, CDC spokesman Chartchai Na Chiangmai expressed similarly that the new charter should be taken into consideration when determining who could stay on in independent agencies and who should leave.

 

Allowing some commissioners to remain in office and exempt them from the new charter was inappropriate, Chartchai added.

 

It was difficult to say whether the court’s ruling on the Ombudsman organic law would be problematic, he said. 

 

On writing the organic law governing the NACC, Chartchai said the CDC maintained the same principles, that the commissioners could only stay on if they were qualified under the new charter.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30325895

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-09-06

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The case had been taken to the court by 36 members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) last month after a question was raised over whether it would be constitutional to allow the president and the Ombudsman to stay on. 

So I decided to see what shape this NLA has after a few 'constitutional' changes since its inception in 2014. Heavily populated with military and police (as expected) with a portion of cherry-picked academics, former senators and some business people. Unable to work out the particular demographic of these 36 members with some sort of grasp on constitutional mandates but I think it is safe to say they probably don't wear a uniform of any sort.

 

However, these gems did come up in my research.

 

Quote

As legislators they will not receive salaries. Instead, each one is paid a "position allowance" of 71,230 baht per month with an "extra allowance" of 42,330 baht a month. State officials are not permitted to receive salaries from more than one source, but may accept unlimited position allowances and other compensation so long as the compensation is not called "salary".

We'll just call it a bung then?

 

Quote

Seven members of the NLA with high rates of absenteeism were investigated by the body and found to be eligible to keep their seats and compensatory allowances.

Fox watching the bloody chickens again.

 

Quote

Gen Preecha Chan-o-cha, the younger brother of junta chief Prayut Chan-o-cha, was the worst offender of the seven. He was found to have cast only six votes out of a total 453 roll calls during a six-month period. Assembly bylaws call for members to be removed if they don't participate in more than one-third of all votes during a 90-day period.

Or, "As I say, not as I do."

 

Twas ever thus.

 

 

3 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

So I decided to see what shape this NLA has after a few 'constitutional' changes since its inception in 2014. Heavily populated with military and police (as expected) with a portion of cherry-picked academics, former senators and some business people. Unable to work out the particular demographic of these 36 members with some sort of grasp on constitutional mandates but I think it is safe to say they probably don't wear a uniform of any sort.

 

However, these gems did come up in my research.

 

We'll just call it a bung then?

 

Fox watching the bloody chickens again.

 

Or, "As I say, not as I do."

 

Twas ever thus.

 

 

 

Great post!

 

It should be required reading for all Thais, and especially for all TV members.

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

"As I say, not as I do."

Are you mocking the junta's reform of government to eliminate conflict of interest? ?