Charter-change complaints streamlined to single case

The court said there was no cause for the judicial order.
In their petition, senators led by Somjet Boonthanom had asked the court to intervene on the contentious issue of transforming the Senate into a fully elected upper chamber.
The court did, however, decide to launch a judicial review on a related complaint filed by Democrat MP Pirapan Salirathavibhaga.
Pirapan contends that the charter amendment on filling senatorial seats is designed to alter the political system and therefore violates Article 68 of the Constitution.
The court said it would amalgamate all complaints on the issue into a single case.
It also instructed the petitioners to make 312 copies of each complaint so they could be forwarded to the accused – the proponents of the bill.
In another development, the court scheduled tomorrow for its vote on the verdict for the 2014 Budget Bill, after yesterday hearing testimonies related to the bill.
The opposition is questioning the constitutionality of the bill by arguing that budgetary allocations of independent organisations have deviated from the spirit of the charter.
Testifying for the government, PM’s Office Minister Varathep Ratanakorn said that earmarking of the budget for the next fiscal year had followed precedents.
He denied that the government had cut spending for independent organisations as alleged by the opposition.
In vetting the spending plans, the legislative committee on budgetary matters had merely reallocated certain projects but not reduced the allocated funds, he said.
“Budgetary reallocation happens every year during the vetting process,” he said.
The budgetary litigation process involves three agencies – the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Courts of Justice and the Administrative Court.
The litigation is not expected to cause a government shutdown, as a contingency provision allows the disbursement of up to half of planned administrative expenses.