Loei: The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation will file charges against three resort owners accused of forest land encroachment in Phu Rua district of this province.
The resorts reportedly belong to state officials, including a retired senior forest official.
Pairoj Pansamut, director of the department's Region 8 office based in Khon Kaen province, led the team on Tuesday to examine the resorts -- Waranya Resort, Ban Than Praporn Resort, and Sarocha Resort.
The Waranya Resort was found to have encroached on 19 rai of Phu Rua National Park, said Mr Pairoj.
Of the 19 rai of land, the resort owner presented a Sor 3 Kor land ownership document covering 12 rai, and the remaining seven rai aren't backed up with any documents.
Legal cases will be lodged to reclaim the land plots, he said.
However, a senior official who was involved in the case, said the resort's Nor Sor 3 Kor land ownership document was issued illegally since the land was declared a forest zone in 1961 and then became a national park in 1979, while the document was issued in 1979.
Staff would investigate further into how the Nor Sor 3 document was issued.
The resort owner, who asked not to be named, said her husband was a former chief of a national park and bought a total of 27 rai of land.
But 19 rai of that land encroaches on the national park, the department claims.
She said the land was purchased fairly and is backed up with a Nor Sor 3 Kor ownership document.
She said she will seek out legal means to verify her right to the land. She believes her land ownership document is legal.
Mr Pairoj said his team had worked on the case for several months until the officials were confident the resort had encroached on the national park.
He insisted the department would provide fairness to the operator.
The resort owner would be given a chance to defend her claimed ownership.
Ronnapob Katchamat, chief of Phu Rua National Park, said the department would invoke Article 22 of the National Park Act to demolish properties and buildings inside the seven-rai area which has no backing document.
Under the law, the resort owner must demolish all structures within 30 days of the department ordering it to do so.
If the owner fails to carry that out, the department would demolish them itself and the owner would be required to pay for demolition costs incurred in the process.
As for the Ban Than Praporn Resort and Sarocha Resort, the officials said they encroached on two rai each of the national park.
Ban Than Praporn Resort is owned by a retired official from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Sarocha Resort is owned by a senior provincial officer.