Supreme Court orders B10bn, 3km beachfront Phuket land to be ‘returned to the public’

Lt Col Montree Boonyayotin, Director of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) Natural Resources and Environment Crime Litigation division, broke the news at a meeting held at Cherng Talay Tambon Administrative Organisation (OrBorTor) yesterday (Nov 2).

In order to have the occupants vacate the land, Col Montree said, “We have to cooperate with other government offices to post notices to evict the people from the area.

“If these people refuse to vacate the land, arrest warrants will be requested to take action,’ he warned.

“They will be taken to Bangkok. If there are any arrests, we will petition the court for bail to be denied. Officers can take action against any person who encroach on this land after this,” Col Montree noted.

The land in question was declared a public area under the Land Administration Division in 2001, he added.

After the announcement, there were nine cases of people opposing the declaration. Later the people behind six of these cases instigated legal action, Col Montree explained.

Col Montree named four of the plaintiffs as Orapan Ploypetch, Sodsai Ongsritrakul, Pitak Boonpotjanasoonthorn and Sawat Thongpaiyut.

The legal action was brought against the Land Department, the Phuket Provincial Office, the Thalang District Chief, the Phuket Land Office Chief and Thalang Land Office officials.

“With the three other cases, people did not take any legal action. The DSI is considering these as special cases,” Col Montree said.

MaAnn Samran, Chief of the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor), noted, “The Supreme Court handed down its verdict on Wednesday (Nov 1). The land belongs to the public.

“There are still people encroaching on this land, using it to benefit from tourism by having businesses such as restaurants.”

Mr MaAnn explained that a NorSor 3 Gor land document presented to the court as evidence to claim the land.

“After that Thalang Land Office requested to register all 178 rai as a public area,” he said.

“However, it was later found that the NorSor 3 Gor land document presented had been cancelled in 1984,” he said.

“The case has been all the way up to the Supreme Court. The verdict was handed down on on Wednesday (Nov 1) that the land belongs to public,” Mr MaAnn repeated.