An amendment bill aimed at extensively curbing the powerful Sangha Council has cruised through the National Legislative Assembly without a single vote against it.
NLA members voted 217 to zero to pass the legislation, with four abstentions, on Thursday.
Once published in the Royal Gazette, the bill will replace the present Sangha Act that currently gives the council full control of monastic affairs and the selection of its members.
The new edition removes the power of selection from the council and returns it to His Majesty, where it had rested since the reign of King Rama V to King Rama VIII. Under the bill, the King will handpick senior monks to fill the 20 seats on the Sangha Council and have the authority to remove monks' rankings.
Last year, the King chose Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong, the abbot of Wat Ratchabobhit, to be the Supreme Patriarch after the succession issue became bogged down when a candidate nominated by the council ran into opposition from other camps.
Passage of the legislation through the NLA on Thursday comes at a time when some council members and senior monks have been tainted by allegations of corruption and misconduct. Senior monks at Wat Sam Phraya, Wat Sa Ket and Wat Samphanthwong were rounded up by police in May on charges including embezzlement of funds allocated to their temples. They were later defrocked and then held in detention.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-Ngam, however, said moves to reform the council and monastic affairs had been planned long before the crackdown. Arrests of senior monks damaged worshippers' trust and their respect for monks, he added.
The bill was passed by the NLA in three quick readings without a vetting committee being set up after the first reading, as is usual practice.
The tenure of the current Sangha Council members ends in about two months.
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