Top judge urges state agencies to not fight court rulings

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.