Sangha Act amendment ‘should be reviewed’

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior prosecutor suggested the legal amendment should not take effect unless the Constitutional Court clears it.
On Thursday, the proposed amendment to Article 7 of the Act sailed through all the three readings of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA). The proposal came up for NLA deliberation without being reviewed by the Cabinet or any other organisation.
“I believe the Constitutional Court should be asked to rule on such legislation,” the legal expert said yesterday. He suggested the prime minister or any person affected by the change could file a petition with the court.
The prosecutor said normally when the Cabinet reviews a draft law or a proposed legal change, it assigns the Council of State to help look into the content.
“During such a review process, the Council of State will ask for the opinions of all agencies involved too,” he said. “The constitution gives the Cabinet the right to review a draft law proposed by the NLA so as to ensure careful deliberation in the legislative process.”
When PM’s Office Minister Ormsin Chivapruck showed up during the NLA session on Thursday, he announced that the government had no objection to the NLA move to proceed with the matter in line with the parliamentary and constitutional process. But the source at the OAG said that the opinion of Ormsin should not qualify as a decision by the whole Cabinet.
The proposed amendment approved by the NLA on Thursday allows the King to name the new supreme patriarch at his discretion. Under the current law, the country’s next most senior monastic chief is appointed by the highest Buddhist priest when the post becomes vacant.
The top ecclesiastical post has been vacant since Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara Sangharaja passed away in 2013.
The Sangha Supreme Council nominated Somdet Chuang, officially known as Somdet Phra Maha Ratcha Mangkhlachan, for the post of supreme patriarch early this year because he is the most senior monastic chief. However, the nomination has not gone further amid intense opposition against the elderly monk.
The NLA’s latest amendment to the 1992 Sangha Act is widely seen as a move to remove the deadlock surrounding the appointment of the country’s top Buddhist monk.
NLA President Pornpetch Wichitcholchai yesterday maintained the move was merely designed to restore a long-held tradition, given no supreme patriarch had been appointed under the 1992 Sangha Act. Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara Sangharaja took up the post before that Act took effect.
Meanwhile, NLA vice president Peerasak Porchit did not believe that monks would protest over the move.