The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) does not object to an organic law that allows Constitutional Court judges to retain their positions, CDC spokesman Udom Rathamarit said Wednesday.
The bill was recently given the green light by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) and passed into law on Nov 23.
This came as a surprise to pundits -- many expected the CDC to push for amendments to the law as the committee is empowered by the charter to seek negotiations with the NLA should it contest any parts of a bill.
However, the CDC appears to be satisfied with the changes made by the NLA, including one that allows the nine judges to stay in office until the next batch of parliamentarians are sworn in.
Mr Udom said the charter requires that the panel selecting new Constitutional Court judges must be represented by an opposition leader and other figures who are currently not included in its composition.
As such, the incumbent judges should remain in their posts until a new parliament is in place when there will be an opposition leader to join the panel, he said.
Yet some CDC members expressed concern that prolonging the tenure of the five Constitutional Court judges whose terms have expired might contravene the charter.
The National Council for Peace and Order stepped in earlier to resolve the matter by issuing orders permitting the judges to stay on.
Regarding the other four judges who have yet to complete their terms, the NLA committee had voted in favour of allowing them to see their terms through.
Somkid Lertpaitoon, chairman of the NLA committee vetting the bill, said earlier that a decision was made to allow the four judges to stay regardless of their qualifications because when they took office they were all qualified according to the 2007 as opposed to the 2017 constitution.
Mr Udom said yesterday the CDC had sent its representatives to take part in the NLA's scrutiny of the organic bill for its second reading, meaning it has already conveyed its opinions and reservations to the NLA.
The Constitutional Court has also stated that it was up to the NLA to decide how to address the issue surrounding the tenure of its judges.
The CDC said it had no plans to pursue further clarification on the judges' tenure from the NLA.
The committee then decided it has no objections to any of the changes made by the NLA.
Mr Udom also allayed fears the organic law was giving Constitutional Court judges unprecedented and excessive power to grant injunctions.
This could be used to suspend the actions of state agencies, for example, which may have repercussions on how state affairs are administered, experts said.
Mr Udom said the law was designed in such a way to compel the court to think carefully before making a ruling.
