STILL NO RULING ON CHARTER BILL PETITIONS
Deputy Senate Speaker Nikhom Wairatpanich has urged the Constitution Court to speed up its consideration of petitions against the government's charter amendment bill.
Quicker deliberation would help defuse tensions between the legislative and judicial branches, he said.
Mr Nikhom said a meeting of Senate, government and opposition whips on Friday failed to decide how to deal with the court order suspending a third reading of the charter amendment bill.
He believed the parliamentary meeting scheduled for Tuesday would also fail to find a solution. He thought parliament president Somsak Kiatsuranon would not dare to request that deliberation of the bill go forward.
"The best way out would be for the charter court to speed up considering the anti-charter amendment petitions and rule on the matter as quickly as possible. That would help avoid what is turning into a showdown between the legislative and judicial branches," Mr Nikhom said.
The Constitution Court has insisted it has the power to consider the petitions against the government's charter amendment bill regardless of the Office of the Attorney-General's decision on Thursday not to submit the petitions to the court.
The state prosecutors ruled that the government's move to rewrite the constitution was within its authority and that there was no evidence of an intention to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, as some opponents of the changes allege.
Pheu Thai MPs slammed the court's decision in a joint House-Senate sitting yesterday.
There was no vote on the court's decision on Friday but the session will continue on Tuesday.
Mr Somsak on Friday decided to postpone the meeting until Tuesday after hours of debate when some Pheu Thai Party MPs insisted that a vote be taken over the Constitution Court's suspension order.
Academic Nidhi Eowseewong said the state prosecutors should ignore the court's suspension order.
He said the court's injunction against the charter rewrite bid compromised the authority of the state attorney.
Democrat Party and opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the government was relentless in its push to pass through the charter bill, but he said this would only fuel tensions between the court and parliament.
He urged the government to close the current parliament session to avoid confrontation. The next session will begin in August and the constitution court should be ready to rule on the case by then, Mr Abhisit said.
"If the government insists on keeping the session open, the charter row will continue in the joint sitting planned for Tuesday," he said.
Democrat list MP Boonyod Sooktinthai yesterday called on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to sack Yoswaris Chuklom as assistant secretary to the interior minister for distributing the telephone numbers and addresses of Constitution Court judges during a red shirt rally last week.
The move by Mr Yoswaris, a core red shirt leader, posed a threat to the judges and their families and infringed on their privacy, Mr Boonyod said.
Meanwhile, an army source said chief Prayuth Chan-ocha has assigned his deputy, Daopong Rattanasuwan, to act on his behalf while Gen Prayuth is in France from tomorrow until Friday.
The general's trip comes amid rallies by the People's Alliance for Democracy and the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship.
The source added commanders of the armed forces had agreed that the authority to deploy soldiers to help police deal with protests rests solely with Supreme Commander Thanasak Patimapakorn, in line with a Defence Ministry regulation issued in 2002.
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