Court order sets new standard in ordering official to pay fine
The Central Administrative Court’s order to fine the director of the Prawet District Office in connection with the “furious aunts” case has set a new standard.
“He is the first to be fined under the law introduced two years ago. This will make [it] clear [to] state officials [that they] can’t just ignore a case that did not start during their term,” the court’s deputy spokesman Wachira Chobtang said on Thursday.
Thanasit Metphanmuang, who heads the Prawet District, was ordered on Wednesday to pay Bt5,000 for his failure to comply with the Central Administrative Court’s 2013 injunction regarding markets operating surrounding the house of Bangkok’s so-called “furious aunts”.
The injunction instructed the director to ease the markets’ adverse impacts on the Saengyoktrakarn family’s house and uphold standards of hygiene. However, the family said that the impacts persisted even after the injunction was issued.
Their woes caught media attention when two of the Saengyoktrakarn sisters attacked a pickup parked in front of their house gate. Initial condemnations over their violence quickly transformed into sympathy when it was revealed that the family had endured the adverse effects of “illegal” markets around their houses for many years.
The court’s spokesman, Prawit Boontiam, said Thanasit must pay the fine with his own money, not state money.
“If he still fails to act on the injunction, we can impose further fines and ask his supervisor to take disciplinary actions against him,” he said.
The additional fines could range from Bt5,000 to Bt50,000, Prawit added.