Talks advance over Doi Suthep

By Pratch Rujivanarom 
The Nation 

 

Representatives of Chiang Mai citizen groups and related agencies discuss a frameฌwork to solve the controversy over the housing project for judges at Doi Suthep Mountain.

 

Two committees start talks to resolve details over judges’ residences

 

CHIANG MAI citizen networks have announced what they see as the first step towards ending the controversy over the judges’ residence project at Doi Suthep Mountain, as two joint committees have been set up to look at the issues of healing the “scar on the face of Doi Suthep” and settle the legal issues of demolition of state property.

 

The coordinator of Doi Suthep Forestland Reclamation Network, Teerasak Rupsuwan, said after the latest meeting between citizen groups and local authorities in Chiang Mai yesterday that the reclamation of the encroached land on the Doi Suthep forest has officially started, as the public sector and authorities have already reached the agreement to return the Court of Justice’s housing project for judges back to forestland.

 

Teerasak said that representatives of public sector and related official agencies will work together on two newly formed joint committees with a mission to heal the encroached land and solve the legal issues that may arise from the clearing out of the state’s properties.

 

“The first committee will have the task to reforest the land back to its former state as part of the Doi Suthep forest. The Royal Forest Department will take the lead on this mission, as they will provide the tree seedlings, reforestation technique and officers, while the citizen networks will support them with other help they may need,” Teerasak said.

 

“Meanwhile, the second committee is exclusively set up to deal with any legal issues that may arise, as according to the law, this project was legally proceeded and authorised. This committee will have the major task to make sure that the revocation of this state project and reclamation effort will also be legal.”

 

He said that from now on the army would build a new access road to the encroached land to avoid using the entrance of the Appeals Court Region 5. 

 

As well, surveying land at the site of justice officials’ housing project will start this Thursday to draw the line of the former forestland and identify the area that has encroached into the forest.

 

“There will be an official ceremony on May 27 to mark the start of reforestation effort. On that day, the representatives from related agencies and people from Chiang Mai and elsewhere will plant the trees together,” he said.

 

However, he said yesterday’s meeting did not discuss deeper details, such as the cost of the entire land reclamation effort, as he the meeting was merely to talk about draft plans and frameworks for the cooperation between the public and the authorities.

 

Meanwhile, the Court of Justice’s spokesperson, Suriyan Hongwilai, said that the agency was currently waiting for the official letter from the government on the solution to this issue.

 

Suriyan said that Court of Justice was ready to comply with the government’s final decision.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30344816

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-05-08

1 hour ago, webfact said:

and settle the legal issues of demolition of state property.

this sounds like a prototypical issue to get all bound up in bureaucracy, not a particular proponent of S44, but this would appear as one of the better uses of it

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The Royal Forest Department ......will provide the tree seedlings, reforestation technique.

Getting a bit ahead of themselves. The houses are still standing, the infrastructure and roads are still there. There are 45 homes for the judges and their families and 13 apartment buildings for court officials. And all this is going to be destroyed? I don't think so. The judiciary will never let this happen and they hold all the Aces simply because they are who they are. They also hold the trump card being the Joker so Article 44 will never be used against them.

Prawit himself has admitted that the site is not in a national forest but on state land and is legal. Never-ending legal challenges are sure to follow which the judiciary will ultimately win. The Thai justice system will make sure of that.

The people shouldn't lose this one but they surely will. 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Meanwhile, the Court of Justice’s spokesperson, Suriyan Hongwilai, said that the agency was currently waiting for the official letter from the government on the solution to this issue.

So while all this palaver is going on there is still no official confirmation from the Pinocchio government. Strange that!