Rayong people to appeal against court verdict on land documents
Local people from Rayong's Mae Ramphueng area will be appealing to the Supreme Administrative Court against the lower court's decision to drop their complaint over the land rights documents held by Sahaviriya Group's subsidiaries.
The documents cover about 310 rai of land in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Bang Saphan district and are located just north of an area where the construction of an iron smelting plant by a Sahaviriya subsidiary is ongoing.
“We will be seeking an injunction from the Supreme Administrative Court. We want to prevent firms from utilising the areas at least till the case is finalised,” Jintana Kaewkhao said as a representative of the complainant.
She was speaking after the Central Administrative Court concluded that evidence showed the land rights documents had been issued in line with law.
Her group refused to go into the courtroom yesterday to hear the judge’s verdict, saying that they could foresee what was coming through documents detailing the content of recent meetings between the Sahaviriya Group’s subsidiaries and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand.
Along with the Anti-Global Warming Association (AGWA), 41 Rayong residents initially lodged the complaint with the Central Administrative Court, accusing 11 political appointees, officials and agencies of abusing their authority or being reckless in issuing the land rights documents.
“Now that the Central Administrative Court has decided to drop our complaint, we will appeal,” Jintana said.
Her group, later yesterday, headed to the Royal Forest Department (RFD) to follow up on complaints about the questionable issuance of land rights documents to the Sahaviriya Group, which has been petitioned to the Central Administrative Court for protection. RFD recently said some of the plots covered by the controversially issued land rights documents are actually forest reserve.
Meanwhile, National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department chief Damrong Pidej yesterday said his department had set up a centre to examine the land rights documents to prevent encroachment on the Sirinat National Park, which is located in Phuket.
“We suspect that the land rights documents for some 3,500 rai of land where projects worth several billion baht are now located have been illegally issued. We suspect that these project are in fact located in the forest-reserve zones,” he said.
