Enacting a bill to amend Article 68 is unconstitutional : senator

He said the parties of the MPs might be dissolved and the senators might be removed from office.

The Constitutional Court decided on Wednesday to proceed with a trial in the complaint against Parliament President Somsak Kiartsuranon and 311 coalition MPs and senators who supported the Article 68 amendment.

The proposed amendment seeks to restrict the people’s rights and submit a petition to the Constitutional Court via the Office of the Attorney General only.

Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn, who filed the complaint against Somsak and the 311 parliamentarians, alleged that the amendment would violate the charter as the Constitutional Court earlier ruled that it had the power to receive complaints from the public directly. Somchai also alleged that the amendment to Article 68 had ulterior motives involving the seeking power through constitutional ways.

Coalition MPs and progovernment senators voted to pass the first reading of the bill to amend Article 68 and 237 early yesterday.

Paibul said it was expected that the bill would be sent back to Parliament for the second reading in June but he said if the Constitutional Court ruled that the amendment was unconstitutional, the deliberation process must stop.

He said if Constitutional Court rules against the amendment after the bill clears the third reading, the prime minister must not send the bill for a royal command.

If the court rules against the amendment, Article 154 might be invoked to remove MPs and senators, who supported the amendment, from office, Paibul said.

Paibul said he had learned that civil society groups might also file criminal complaints against the MPs and senators with the National AntiCorruption Commission.

But Pichit Chuenban, a legal expert of the Pheu Thai, said Constitutional Court judges themselves would face a criminal probe for violating the charter by accepting the complaint against Somsak and the 311 other defendants.

Pichit alleged that the Constitutional Court judges who voted to try the case had violated the defendants’ rights to receive a fair trial by indicating in their decision on Wednesday that the amendment appeared to be wrong.

Article 40 guaranteed the rights of defendants to receive fair trial so the Constitutional Court judges apparently violated the article, he said, adding the court’s decision to proceed with the trial was also tantamount to a violation of the power of the legislative branch that has the authority to enact laws.