Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda has ordered an investigation into the process of granting approval to a company under the Krathing Daeng (Red Bull) group to use community forest land in Khon Kaen.
The probe must be wrapped up within 15 days and the land use permit will be revoked if it is found that the application to use the land does not comply with regulations, he said.
Gen Anupong has come under fire after a document he signed approving the company's request to use 31 rai of community forest land was leaked online.
In defending the move, he said members of the public, private companies and state agencies are free to make such requests. If they breach conditions on how the land should be used their permit can be revoked immediately, he added.
But officials will be punished if any irregularities are found in how the process was handled, he said, insisting he followed protocol.
He also questioned why the permit was approved without any objections from local villagers.
The Land Department has confirmed there is no paperwork showing they objected, he said.
The department's deputy general has been instructed to visit the area to investigate the matter, he added.
''If only a single person disagreed ...I would not have approved it," Gen Anupong said.
"We have to investigate thoroughly starting from the provincial level."
If the probe shows villagers were affected by the firm's land use and subsequently objected to it, there would be a strong case to revoke the permit and hold all parties to account, he said.
Gen Anupong said he has only seen documents showing the villagers unanimously agreed with the permit.
Land Department director-general Prateep Keeratirekha said yesterday that approval for a five-year permit was given in compliance with the law.
The company must restore the land and the surrounding environment before the permit expires, he said. If the company causes any damage to the land, it must be held responsible, Mr Prateep said.
Suwapong Kittipatpiboon, the deputy governor of Khon Kaen, said yesterday that before the permit was granted, a public hearing was held on Oct 10, 2012 with 14 agencies and local residents from 15 villages in tambon Ban Dong taking part.
During the hearing, 378 people -- more than half of the villagers in the tambon -- endorsed the request, Mr Suwapong said.
The matter came to light when activist Srisuwan Janya petitioned the National Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate Gen Anupong and five others for alleged abuse of power in relation to the permit.
The others are Deputy Interior Minister Sutee Markboon; Prateep Keeratirekha, director-general of the Land Department; Chote Chuachoti, director of the Legal Affairs Office of the Office of the Permanent Secretary for Interior; former Khon Kaen governor Kamthon Thawornsathit; and Adulsak Lehkan, chairman of the Ban Dong tambon administration organisation.
Mr Srisuwan accused all six of unlawfully granting a permit to the private company, allowing it to make use of 31 rai of public land in the Huay Mek community forest in tambon Ban Dong in Ubonrat district of Khon Kaen.
According the the petition, the approval was made for the benefit of the private company and not in the public interest, noting the community forest is still in good condition.
His move came after the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT) uploaded on its Watchdog.ACT Facebook page a copy of the land-use approval document.
The document bears the signatures of five of the accused with final approval given by Gen Anupong.
According to the document, the land use permit was issued to KTD Property Development to build a water storage facility for its adjacent beverage production plant.
It was granted on the basis that the area was not being used by the community, is not a natural water source and is not a flood-retention area.
Notably, Ban Dong TAO announced the company's request to use the land but there were no objections raised by villagers.