The Agricultural Land Reform Office (Alro) has stepped up pressure in its dispute with national parks chief Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn, moving to charge him with illegally removing markers it had placed demarcating agricultural land adjacent to Khao Yai.
Alro secretary-general Vinaroj Sapsongsuk said on Monday that Amarit Khongkaew, the acting Alro provincial office chief in Nakhon Ratchasima, would register a police complaint against Mr Chaiwat at Mu Si police station in Pak Chong district.
Alro alleges that on Feb 13 Mr Chaiwat and his subordinates removed, without authorisation, 27 demarcation markers placed by the land reform agency.
The concrete pegs identified land designated for agricultural purposes, but Mr Chaiwat, who is director of the National Parks Office, insists the land is part of Khao Yai National Park.
The land reform office and the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), which directly supervises Mr Chaiwat's office, are locked in a dispute over the land, each claiming legal authority.
According to Alro, the disputed land, 72 sections totalling almost 3,000 rai, is part of 33,896 rai of land in three districts of Nakhon Ratchasima handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives under a cabinet directive in 1987. Alro says the land comes under an agricultural reform scheme to benefit landless farmers by issuing them Sor Por Kor 4-10 land use papers.
The DNP argues the entire area in dispute is within the boundary of the national park under the 1962 law identifying park boundaries.
Neither Mr Chaiwat nor the DNP had reacted to Alro's move but Mr Chaiwat's supporters have defended him in posts made on his Facebook page, for defending Khao Yai against further encroachment.