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

PHUKET: Six people have been ordered to vacate 178 rai of land, covering three kilometres of beachfront stretching from Layan to Leypang beach on Phuket’s west coast – with an estimated total value of more than B10 billion – following a Supreme Court on Wednesday (Nov 1) ruling against their claims to the land.

The three-kilometre of beachfront land has been handed back to the public, says MaAnn Samran, Chief of the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor). Photo: Suthicha Sirirat

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.

Good news. And charge the restaurant for dumping on public lands. For 10 years been digging vast holes in the sand and burying their waste. Who knows where sewage goes, but on still days you can smell it in the water, all this in a National Marine Preserve.

We had a bad low season due to the poor communication of TAT the past year and all hoteliers where happy that the new high season finally started, that these people in Bkk find it necessary to start again to bring Phuket and his beaches in a bad way into the media. They had the past low season to solve all the beach issues, to organize the beaches by fex renting out spaces to locals to have their ...

I was told by thai lawyers that beachfront land is always public land. So these 6 people and their helpers in Land office, all together playing around, being creative with at the end 'real' fake documents, violating thai laws, are they going to be prosecuted? 178 Rai beach front land! Wow! You can not overlook that. There are officials in Land Office who need to be investigated, don&#...