The Supreme Administrative Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by the office of the permanent secretary of the Prime Minister's Office seeking 2.8 billion baht in unpaid concession fees from iTV Plc for an alleged breach of contract.
The court upheld a Central Administrative Court decision, putting an end to the iTV concession fees dispute, which began in 2007.
The dispute involved the firm asking an arbitration panel on May 9, 2007, to rule on the legality of the office of the permanent secretary of the PM's Office's termination of the operating agreement on March 7 of that year. An arbitration panel ruled in 2016 that iTV did not owe any unpaid concession fees.
The office of the PM's Office's permanent secretary took the case to the Administrative Court, asking it to overrule the panel's decision. The court rejected the petition before the office appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. On July 3, 1995, the PM's Office granted iTV Plc a 30-year concession to run a UHF TV station. However, it was revoked in 2007 after the office accused iTV of failing to pay overdue concession fees and maintain a programme structure agreed in its contract.
The Supreme Administrative Court on Thursday confirmed the legitimacy of the arbitration panel's ruling, saying the court has no reason to overrule the panel's decision.
iTV Plc on Thursday issued a statement informing its shareholders of the court's ruling and said it will hold a shareholders' meeting to consider the direction of its future business operations.
"The company is now discharged of any debts, duties, or contractual obligations under the Operating Agreement Using the UHF System and bears no liability towards the PMO [Prime Minister's Office]," according to the statement.