They accused Surayud, Dhipavadee, PM's Office secretary general Jullayuth Hirunyawasit and Public Relations Department (PRD) director general Pramoj Rathvinij of abuse of authority by offering preferential treatments to iTV Plc and their staffs.

"The culprits should face criminal actions," Constitution Drafting Assembly's member and former senator Karun Saingarm said.

Karun, Civil Rights and Freedom Protection Group's chairman Veera Somkwamkid and another activist Suphaphon Methavee led some 30 people to lodge the complaint.

AEC chairman Nam Yimyaem said AEC would review information in this case before deciding whether there were grounds to taking up the case.

According to the complainants, PRD advanced Bt60million budget to hire former iTV staffs for the TITV operations in defiance of laws governing quotations to government agencies.

TITV is the new name for iTV.

"This means each iTV staffer gets Bt60,000 on average. This is the rate higher than what PRD staffs get. The fact that PRD exclusively hires former iTV staff for TITV operations also means other people are blocked out of job opportunities," Karun said.

Because the parent company would not pay more than Bt100 billion in concession fees and fines to the concessiongranter PM's Office, iTV's licence was cancelled.

Assigned by the PM's Office, PRD is now managing the station so the renamed TITV could stay on air.

The move is in lines with the Administrative Court's order the PM's Office must ensure uninterrupted broadcast of the station until its legal case gets a final court ruling or until the court rules otherwise.

The court issued the ruling after iTV staff asked it to help following a suggestion by the PM's Office that the station might be closed temporarily while relevant problems were being sorted out.

TITV now belongs to the PM's Office, not the private company.

However, Karun said PM's Office did not have the right to allocate broadcast frequencies.

The Nation