Pareena land affair passes jurisdictional hurdle
The Council of State has determined that either the Royal Forest Department or the Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) can handle a case in which Phalang Pracharath Party MP Pareena Kraikup is accused of allowing a farm operation to encroach on state-owned land.
But the ALRO has no authority to execute an arrest warrant should it come to that, the council said, according to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam.
Wissanu was reporting on Thursday (February 13) about the council’s response to the Forest Department’s request for clarifications in the case so that protocol is in place for similar cases in the future.
The council also pointed out that potential ownership of the property must be taken into account, since, if it’s decreed the perimeter must be limited, the land could eventually belong to the ALRO rather than the Forest Department.
A Cabinet resolution demands that the land be “reformed” – returned to its intended use – and the ALRO has a plan and the budget to do so, it noted.
Wissanu said Pareena had already formally said she would return the forestland to the ALRO, but she did not accompany ALRO inspectors in their bid to define the perimeter, which he said indicated she had not yet returned the land.
“She must cooperate or she will be in violation of Article 47 of the Agricultural Land Reform Act and Article 9 of the Land Code,” he said.