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Published on December 15, 2007

"[The] panel of judges of the Supreme Administrative Court made known today (December 14, 2007) its ruling on the PTT privatisation case which opposes the Foundation for Consumers to the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, the Minister in charge of Energy, and PTT Plc. The plaintiffs claimed that the PTT privatisation procedure is unlawful as it didn't respect the formalities prescribed in the Law of 1999 on State Enterprise Corporatisation. The Supreme Administrative Court has to consider whether the PTT privatisation procedure was unlawful as alleged by the plaintiffs and whether the Royal Decree determining the powers, rights and assets of PTT Plc and the Royal Decree transforming PTT as a state enterprise into a public company are lawful.

"On the first question, the Supreme Administrative Court considers that there is no illegality in the privatisation procedure because there is no conflict of interests of the two members of the committee in charge of overseeing the privatisation. The court also deems legal the public hearing process as the advertisement prior to it has been sufficiently made in the local presses which have large national coverage both in Thai and in English.

"As for the legality of the Royal Decree determining the powers, rights and assets of PTT Plc and the Royal Decree transforming PTT as a state enterprise into a public company, the court considers that the gas transmission pipelines system and the land attached to it as well as the right of way are public domain. The PTT as a state enterprise according to the Law of 1978 on the Petroleum Authority of Thailand could possess this public domain as well as state power necessary for its functioning.

The PTT as a public company is not entitled to hold this public domain and cannot exercise state power. Consequently the Cabinet must transfer the public domain comprising the gas transmission pipelines system and the land attached to it as well as the right of way to the Ministry of Finance and must not entitle to PTT Plc to exercise state power. In neglecting to do so, article 4 paragraph 2 of the Royal Decree determining the powers, rights and assets of PTT Plc is unlawful and should, by way of consequence, affect the legality of the Royal Decree transforming PTT as a state enterprise into a public company.

Nonetheless the court is of the opinion that annulling the Royal Decree transforming PTT as a state enterprise into a public company would entail a forced delisting of PTT Plc from the Stock Exchange of Thailand and would cause a great jeopardy to the financial, social and security state of the country. And as this illegality can be corrected, the Court, therefore, rules that the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, the Minister in charge of Energy and PTT Plc must do what is necessary to transfer the public domain comprising the gas transmission pipelines system and the land attached to it as well as the right of way, to the Finance Ministry.

The Court also rejects the plaintiffs' request to annul the Royal Decree determining the powers, rights and assets of PTT Plc and the Royal Decree transforming PTT as a state enterprise into a public company."

The Nation