The Supreme Court has ruled that Pareena Kraikupt, a Palang Pracharath Party MP for Ratchaburi, cannot sit on the House committee scrutinising the 2022 budget because she has been suspended from parliament.
Ms Pareena was suspended from duty after the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions accepted for consideration a case filed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) accusing her of a severe ethical violation as an MP by illegally occupying land in a forest reserve.
The suspension remains in effect pending the court's decision on the case, scheduled for April 7 next year.
The NACC asked the court to rule whether Ms Pareena could sit on the House budget scrutiny committee since she had been suspended the House.
The court, by a majority vote, on Tuesday ruled that Ms Pareena could not sit on the budget bill scrutiny committee because this one of the duties of an MP.
The court rejected Ms Pareena's request that it seek a Constitutional Court ruling on the constitutionality of the NACC's investigation of the land case without a resolution by the House's ethics commmittee on the matter. It said the NACC's action was constitutional.
Ms Pareena said she respected the court's ruling.
Her lawyer, Tiwa Karnkrasang, said the court's ruling that Ms Pareena could not sit on a House committee while suspended from parliament had set a precedent.