Bangkok Post

One decree authorised the government to seek 350 billion baht in loans to finance water management projects and flood rehabilitation work.

The other required the Finance Ministry to transfer full repayment responsibility for 1.14 trillion baht of bailout debt accrued from the 1997/98  financial crisis from the Finance Ministry to the Financial Institutions Development Fund, which is under the Bank of Thailand.

Democrat Party MPs and 69 senators earlier petitioned the Constitution Court to rule whether the two decrees are constitutional. They said the two decrees might contravene Section 184 of the constitution which stipulates that an executive decree can be issued only as a matter of urgency.

The Constitution Court today convened a meeting of the nine judges on the bench at 9am and read out its ruling on the two decrees at 2pm.

In the matter of the decree to allow the Finance Ministry to seek 350 billion baht in loans to finance water management and flood rehabilitation projects, the court unanimously ruled that it is in line with the prerequisites mentioned in Section 184 paras 1 and 2 of the constitution, because the government is urgently in need of money to cope with problems arising from the flood disaster had affected the country's infrastructure and financial security.

The court voted 7-2 to confirm the constitutionality of the second decree to enable the government to transfer the responsibility for the 1.14 trillion baht debt from the Finance Ministry to the FIDF.

In doing this, the government could reduce the burden of allocating a fund from the annual budget to pay for the debt's interest. The money should instead be used for other purposes.

The transfer of the debt was necessitated by the flood crisis. There was no evidence indicating that the cabinet, in issuing this decree, acted dishonestly or in violation of the charter, the court said.

At least six of the nine votes of the nine judges are required for a ruling that an executive decree is in violation of the charter.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung (File Photo)

Earlier today, key cabinet ministers Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung and Justice Minister Pracha Promnok said if the two decrees were found by the court to be unconstitutional the government would resubmit them to the House of Representatives as ordinary bills and would seek their quick passage in three straight readings.

Mr Chalerm, speaking before the court's decisions were announced, said the government would not be required to resign if the two executive decrees were over-ruled by the court.

He said the government viewed the loan decrees as an urgent matter for use in flood management. If the court disagreed it would not be a disgrace and there would be no need for the government to resign.

"If the Constitution Court does not think that the decrees are urgent then that is its judgement but the government is not obligated to show responsibility by quitting," he said.

If the court does rule the decrees invalid it would pose a hurdle for the government in managing flooding and the people would suffer, he said.

He urged the opposition Democrat Party to stop treating the decrees as a political game.

He said that if the decrees were rebuffed the government would pass legislation through the parliament instead.