Thailand: Top judge urges state agencies to not fight court rulings

[webfact]

Top judge urges state agencies to not fight court rulings
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- State agencies should pay compensation to ordinary people who win legal battles against them, not appeal against their victories, Administrative Court president Hassavut Vititviriyakul said yesterday.

In an address during a meeting with the press, the chief judge said that if state agencies lose court battles with ordinary people, they should give in and quickly compensate them for the damage they have done.

"Unfortunately, it is a tradition among state agencies to prolong the battle by appealing to higher courts to change the verdict of the lower court," he said.

"In many cases people wait for the final verdict until they die and find that the state agencies really did something wrong," Hassavut said.

Thailand has four types of courts; administrative courts, courts of justice, a constitutional court and military courts. These courts have their own system and procedure for trials.

The Administrative Court handles disputes between state agencies and ordinary people, but the conflicting pairs have different and unequal status, he said. In many cases, it would be very hard for individual citizens to win in court battles with state agencies, he said. Sometimes, individuals are not in a position to even seek evidence to support their argument in the court, he said.

The Administrative Court, however, uses an inquisitorial system, he said, which allows it to find information and evidence by itself, which could be useful for those who have no ability to protect themselves.

"Over the past 12 years since the Administrative Court was established, ordinary people have had more chances to win cases against state agencies," he said. "[Although] statistically, state agencies still have a high possibility of winning in a court battle over ordinary people.

"So, if state agencies obviously did something wrong and did damage to the people, they should admit their guilt and compensate them," he said, "Appeals just prolong these cases and hurt people.

"The Administrative Court is a court which people can rely on - we can guarantee basic rights for the people," he said.


-- The Nation 2013-08-17

[CrisRMenumate]

Now that is refreshing... for lipservice...

[NongKhaiKid]

Ordinary people take on officialdom and win, who do they think they are ? Too much face involved but the courts and the system have their part to play and not allow frivolous appeals to drag on.

Courts issue orders that are ignored, what's wrong with people going behind bars for contempt ?

[MaxLee]

Ordinary people take on officialdom and win, who do they think they are ? Too much face involved but the courts and the system have their part to play and not allow frivolous appeals to drag on.

Courts issue orders that are ignored, what's wrong with people going behind bars for contempt ?

The bloody sucked taxpayers money due to all those SCAMS and MegaprojectsRIPOFFS is already in the storage

[OzMick]

"The Administrative Court, however, uses an inquisitorial system, he said, which allows it to find information and evidence by itself........"

And therein lies the problem, as the court's decision can't be influenced by a tame investigative body that presents the evidence that the government wants the court to see.

[noitom]

What does the judge mean by "ordinary people?" Is he/she referring to those who are not "privileged?" How do "they" wait until they die and then find additional evidence, or how do they find after they die?

[boomerangutang]

Interesting that the judge used the word 'ordinary people.' To me, that phrase jumped out of the text. It's true, how stratified Thai society is getting. The elite and well-connected keep amassing power and using that power to amass ever more money (poster family: Shinawatres) - while the downtrodden, are trying to simply eke by.

[tomross46]

Politicians do not understand the process of separation of power, in most democracies there are three branches, executive, legislative and judicial. The judicial branch is there to try to keep the other two branches honest. There job is very difficult because the other two branches at times only think about how much money they can get, by any means possible. This is not only Thailand but all countries.

[LuckyLew]

As long as the red shirts agree with the rulings they promise not to disagree

[Swiss1960]

Interesting that the judge used the word 'ordinary people.'   To me, that phrase jumped out of the text.  It's true, how stratified Thai society is getting.  The elite and well-connected keep amassing power and using that power to amass ever more money (poster family: Shinawatres) - while the downtrodden, are trying to simply eke by. 

I don't have a problem with that phrase, maybe just a ttanslation issue? Most laws differentiate between (i.e. in Switzerland) "natural" (ordinary) persons, judical persons (i.e. companies) and goverment bodies.

Much more interesting is that a judge critizises the government for missuse of taxpayer money to fight taxpayers rightful claims against them and thus waisting more money as when they would have payed along the original ruling... but that is not only in Thailand

Sent from my HTC One XL using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[khunken]

Not what the PTP wants to hear. He could also have mentioned that when the Admin court hands down a decision that the PTP or UDD don't like, intimidation is not a valid method of appeal.

[GrantSmith]

No different to farangland... Don't like the verdict and have the finances to prolong it...

Kick it up the food chain...

Big Tobacco and Big Pharma come to mind...

[Thai at Heart]

Interesting that the judge used the word 'ordinary people.' To me, that phrase jumped out of the text. It's true, how stratified Thai society is getting. The elite and well-connected keep amassing power and using that power to amass ever more money (poster family: Shinawatres) - while the downtrodden, are trying to simply eke by.

How stratified it's becoming? It was always thus.

[geriatrickid]

State agencies have a duty to contest decisions that impact the national good. Yes, there are many decisions that should not be contested, particularly those that relate to environmental and social impact arising from development. Unfortunately, there are just as many that must be contested because they allow illegal developments to remain or large commercial interests to bully the "ordinary" people. It goes both ways. Phuket is an example of how decisions in support of controlling illegal development have been appealed for years.

Perhaps what should have been argued was the use of common sense. No mention of the court system's deficiency and inefficiency that allows the cases to drag on.

[BrianCR]

'ordinary people.' against extra-ordinary buffaloes! Maybe it's time for those extra-ordinary buffaloes to realize that they to, are ordinary people?

Edited August 17, 2013 by BrianCR

[boomerangutang]

In the US, there's a problem that's 180 degrees different from the Thai problem articulated in the OP. I refer to SSI. that's social security for disabilities, either 'mental' or 'physical'. It's a grossly abused system, as are veteran's benefits. Hordes of Americans are applying for and receiving such benefits (which pay close to $900/month) and most do so under false pretenses. Legions of attorneys are cropping up all over the US, just to get in on the action. The US federal government, for its part, doesn't even have a representative in court, when there's a decisive or final hearing. In other words, everyone who applies for funny money, gets it, if they appeal often enough, and if the judge hearing their particular case doesn't toss it out for being too ridiculous a claim (which nearly never happens). The result: tens of millions of Americans getting hand-outs which they don't deserve, and the feds (which pays all those benefits with taxes and Chinese money) not lifting a finger to contest it. There, i got that rant out of my system for the next 5 minutes.