House Speaker Chuan Leekpai on Friday refused to rule on the eligibility of Future Forward Party (FFP) leader and list-MP Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit to serve on the budget bill scrutiny committee, saying he was not authorised to do so.
“I didn’t set up the budget scrutiny committee, the House did. The House Speaker isn’t empowered to make a judgement on this,” Mr Chuan said.
A ruling was earlier sought by his deputy, Suchart Tancharoen, who argued that it would be inappropriate for Mr Thanathorn to join the budget bill examination. The FFP leader has been suspended as an MP by the Constitutional Court, pending its ruling over a media shareholding dispute.
Mr Thanathorn was nominated among the FFP’s quota of eight representatives on the budget panel, under the outsider quota, not as an MP. The House rules allow MPs and non-MPs to sit on ad-hoc panels.
“It is the budget scrutiny committee’s job to examine if any of its members have questionable qualifications,” Mr Chuan added.
What the House Speaker is empowered to do is to receive a petition and forward it to the Constitutional Court to rule on, he said.
The House Speaker also said he could not decide if Mr Thanathorn should quit as an MP in order to retain his right to join the examination process.
According to Mr Chuan, the House’s legal affairs were of the opinion that Mr Thathathorn can work on the budget bill vetting committee as an outsider.
Wirach Ratanasate, deputy chairman of the budget committee, said Mr Thanathorn, as a non-MP member, might not be able to propose changes to the spending plan.
Only MPs will be allowed to participate in the budget scrutiny committee’s exclusive session on budget cut and allocation, Mr Wirach said.
Mr Wirach admitted there have been talks about the possibility of Mr
Thanathorn quitting as an MP to put the controversy surrounding his eligibility to rest.
Meanwhile, Paradorn Prissanananthakul, spokesman of the budget bill panel, said the committee will seek opinions from the Constitutional Court on Section 144 of the charter, which imposes restrictions on the reallocation of funds.
Under Section 144, MPs, senators and committee members are prohibited from proposing changes to finance bills in a way that will directly or indirectly benefit them.