Around 100 monks and 50 laymen gathered outside Mahachula-longkornrajavidyalaya University and submitted the letter to a monk lecturer. The group called on Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont to stop the bill from undergoing amendment in the NLA.

Phra Maha Chow, the leader of the group, said the bill proposed that the monk who would lead an all-monk executive panel to function on behalf of His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch in the event he is incapacitated must be chosen according to his years in the monkhood, not by his ecclesiastical title.

Chow said the seniority principle cited by the Lord Buddha was used when it comes to paying respect among monks, but the supreme patriarch's post was created to handle executive affairs governing monks and to perform monastic duties of senior monks.

Chow also said the bill would further widen the rift between the two orders in Thailand - the mainstream Maha Nikaya and the Theravada. He also cited a long-proposed idea to appoint one supreme patriarch to lead the Maha Nikaya and another to head the Theravada order.

"If that is done, all problems will be solved, but it should not be a practical option, because the entire Sangha body and all Buddhist monks are united," he said.

Surayud said neither the bill nor the entire matter was discussed in the Cabinet meeting. The government did not initiate the move prompted by the bill that suggests that Somdej Phra Phutthajarn, abbot of Saket Temple, be the head of a six-member group of senior monks that functions on behalf of His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch.

"No agenda regarding the matter has been submitted. What already exists continues to carry on the same way," he said.

Chow said the bill, submitted by NLA member Phaisal Phuetmong-khol, had not been previewed or approved by the Sangha Supreme Council, which governs all temples and monks across the country.

"The submission of the bill was made by a group of people who want to claim certain monastic powers, bypassing senior monks, disregarding the Holy Discipline and indicating dismay at Buddhism."

He said the bill would have drastic consequences on Buddhism in general if it were approved, so it should not be made effective without initial screening or final endorsement by the Sangha Supreme Council.

Chow and 10 other monks afterwards went to Government House and handed the letter to an official.

"The Sangha thinks the bill is dangerous to Buddhism. It's been said the previous government destroyed the country, but this government will destroy the religion [if it does not stop the bill from being promulgated]," he said.

Two commands have also been prepared for His Holiness to sign. One would sideline Phutthajarn to an advisory post and the other to replace him as the head of the committee of 18 senior monks with Somdej Phra Maha Theerajarn, abbot of Chana Songkhram Temple.

Phutthajarn did not make any public statement on the move that would see him being shunted aside, after having a 90-minute meeting with his secretary - Phra Phrome Suthi Methee, who is a member of the Sangha Supreme Council.

Preecha Kanthiya, director-general of the Religious Affairs Department, said the monks needed to have a say in the bill before it was considered, and that His Holiness will decide on his own the chairman of the panel.

NLA member Wallop Tangkhananurak said Chow asked him to help stop the bill from going to the NLA for consideration, and that he would meet with Phaisal today to discuss his reason for submitting the bill.