Top court rejects Surachate’s request to block dismissal order
The court ruled that his dismissal was lawful, rejecting the former deputy national police chief’s plea for an injunction
The Supreme Administrative Court formally announced on Monday that it has turned down former deputy national police chief Pol General Surachate Hakparn’s request for an injunction against his dismissal orders.
The bench of judges had actually rejected Surachate’s request on November 13, but did not explain why it had waited this long to formally announce its decision.
Surachate had called on the court to suspend the Royal Thai Police order to dismiss him from police service pending a ruling on a case he had filed earlier.
On November 13, Thai media reported that Surachate had lost his case against the Royal Thai Police commissioner-general, the police merit protection committee and the prime minister in the capacity of police commission chairperson. However, the court dismissed this declaration, saying it would clarify later.
Surachate first filed a case on August 27, demanding that the dismissal orders be annulled and that he be reinstated as a police officer.
However, when senior public prosecutor Poramate Intharachoomnum said deliberation on this case could take a year and a half, Surachate requested an injunction on his dismissal while this case was being tried.
However, the court office said that Surachate’s injunction request did not meet the three criteria for issuing an injunction.
Under the first criterion, the announcement said, the court would have issued an injunction if it believed that the dismissal was unlawful.
However, it said, Surachate was still a police officer when the police chief dismissed him on grounds that he had committed a severe disciplinary offence. The court said this decision was made at the recommendation of an investigative committee, so the order was lawful and injunction not necessary.
The other two criteria were if Surachate could lose compensation if the dismissal was wrong or if his dismissal affected government services.
The court reckoned an injunction was unnecessary as there were no obstacles to Surachate getting compensated and his dismissal had not affected the administration of government agencies.
