Legality of charter-change bill challenged
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Democrats and senators yesterday filed separate complaints asking public prosecutors to look into the constitutionality of the push for charter change.
A group of 40 senators said the charter amendment bill, which will come up for the third reading on June 5, did not seek to revise certain provisions but aimed at drafting a new charter.
Article 291 of the Constitution empowers Parliament to amend charter provisions as deemed necessary – but this mandate does not apply to discarding the charter, the senators said in their statement.
The bill, if passed in the third reading, is designed for the Constitution Drafting Assembly to promulgate a new charter, the statement said. “The bill is tantamount to a coup to tear up the Constitution,” it said.
The public prosecutors should launch an inquiry into the matter, paving the way for judicial intervention to block the government and coalition lawmakers from discarding the charter, it said.
The Office of the Attorney General has already set up a panel to check on the legal issues in connection with charter change, its spokesman Winai Damrongmon-kolkul said. The senators also submitted a statement to the Constitution Court, urging a speedy review of the constitutionality of the bill.
