The Administrative Court on Thursday recommended that concerned parties seek a retrial of the 2019 ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court in the "Hopewell saga" following this week's landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court.
The Supreme Administrative Court had ordered the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and Transport Ministry pay 11.88 billion baht in compensation to Hopewell (Thailand) for the cancellation of their 1998 contract to build a 60-kilometre elevated highway and rail system in Bangkok.
If those parties wanted the Supreme Administrative Court to retry the case, they should submit a copy of Wednesday's ruling by the Constitutional Court citing that the lower court's ruling had been in breach of the constitution, said Administrative Court spokesman Prawit Boonthiam.
That alone would not necessarily warrant a retrial, however, because the decision as to whether this week's landmark ruling should be seen by the Supreme Administrative Court as new evidence was in that court's hands, he said.
The Supreme Administrative Court judges ruled in 2002 that the statute of limitations in the Hopewell case should be counted from the day the Administrative Court was founded -- March 9, 2001. It therefore said the company was entitled to compensation over the cancellation of the contract because it had sought the arbitration tribunal's judgement within the legal time frame.
A petition submitted by the Transport Ministry and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) through the Ombudsman, seeking the Constitutional Court's clarification of the Nov 27, 2002 resolution by Supreme Administrative Court judges, argued that the 1999 Establishment and Proceedings of Administrative Cases Act made it clear that the statute of limitations commenced on the first known day the dispute in the case was known.
The Constitutional Court judges ruled on Wednesday that the 2002 decision violated the constitution because the Supreme Administrative Court had failed to send it to parliament for inspection and did not publish it in the Royal Gazette as required by the law and the constitution.
Asst Prof Teera Suteevarangkul, a law lecturer at Thammasat University, also said Wednesday's ruling by the Constitutional Court wouldn't directly override the April 22, 2019 ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court.
However, he agreed that these parties concerned may cite Wednesday's ruling as a new reason to request for a retrial of the case because it was up to the Supreme Administrative Court to rule if this week's verdict was sufficient reason to retry the case.
Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, meanwhile, on Thursday stressed the need to wait until full details of the court's ruling had been received before the ministry could comment further.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had always stressed the importance of strictly following the laws when handling the epic case, said Mr Saksayam.