Administrative Court judges up in arms over draft bill

The committee oversees the court’s human resources and appraises the judges’ performance.
The letter, submitted to National Legislative Assembly president Pornphet Vichitcholchai, said the Administrative Court Judges Committee should be considered to be functioning as normal even though there was a coup that annulled the 2007 charter. A precedent occurred after the 2006 coup whereby all the organs of the courts, except the Constitutional Court, were allowed to function as normal.
The gist of the opposition lies in Articles 12 to 14 of the NLA draft bill stating the Administrative Court Judges Committee no longer functioned as normal. The opposing judges stated in the letter that there existed no urgent need to amend the law governing the court, which was originally passed in 1999.
The judges regarded the proposal in the bill allowing the General Assembly of the Administrative Court Judges to function on behalf of the Administrative Court Judges Committee as being “beyond logic and principle”. They urged the NLA to allow representation if judges were to take part in considering the proposed bill.
NLA member Somchai Sawaengkarn said the assembly would stick with its scheduled deliberation on the matter, which could possibly take place today, although it has decided to invite both sides of the issue to join the committee overseeing the bill.
There are 190 judges at the Administrative Court and 117 opposed the NLA’s proposed bill.
Yesterday also saw 13 senior judges of the Administrative Court paying respect and offering flowers to the statue of King Chulalongkorn in front of the court’s building and asking for a blessing.