The Supreme Administrative Court has dismissed a case in which former premier Yingluck Shinawatra was charged with malfeasance for approving the now-defunct water-management plan.
Workers reinforce a nine-metre-high concrete floodwall which stretches for 2km along the banks of the Chao Phraya River in Nakhon Sawan in August 2012, almost a year after the great floods. (File photo by Patipat Janthong)
In July 2012, the Stop Global Warming Association and 45 villagers' representatives accused Ms Yingluck and three water-related agencies - the Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management, the National Water and Flood Management Policy Committee and the Water and Flood Committee - of malfeasance for approving the 350-billion-baht water-management master plan.
They claimed the accused had abused their administrative power, causing enormous damage to the environment, when they approved the plan.
The complainant said the plan did not comply with the steps outlined in the 2007 charter in effect at the time since no public hearing had been held.
The Central Administrative Court in late June 2013 ordered the government to hold more public hearings for each module to cover all affected areas.
However, the Stop Global Warming Association appealed with the Supreme Administrative Court, seeking to scrap all projects under the plan.
At Friday's trial, the association claimed since no public hearings had been held, the borrowing had been made and standard procurement regulations were bypassed, the projects should all be scrapped.
The agencies argued after they were ordered by the lower court, they prepared hearings and held exhibitions to give people basic knowledge of the projects. Once each project is to be held, they will hold the hearings and send the results to environmental authorities.
If local people and the environment authorities do not agree with it, the project cannot proceed, they claimed.
After hearing both sides, the Supreme Administrative Court overruled the Central Administrative Court, saying the accused was not guilty as charged since the plan had yet to be implemented or took effect.
The court said the complainant could file a petition by project once it was implemented and it turned out government agencies had not acted constitutionally by holding the required public hearings.
As for the charge public hearing results might not be credible because the responsible agencies asked contractors to hold them on their behalf, the court ruled this was not the case because the contractors acted under the supervision of the agencies, which could ask them to redo the jobs or fix any mistake before taking delivery of the service.
To the charge the wholesale bidding method in which a bidder had to take responsibility for an entire system was illegitimate, the court said the decision on a bidding method rested entirely with the government. Whichever method it chooses will not render a project illegitimate, the court said.
Srisuwan Chanya, chairman of the association said he was disappointed although the plan had already been scrapped by the incumbent government.
He said his group had also filed a complaint with the National Anti-Corruption Commission against Ms Yingluck for holding a bid using the special method instead of the standard 1992 procurement regulations.
Among the most controversial projects under the water-management plan is the Mae Wong Dam, a planned embankment dam on the Mae Wong River, a tributary of the Sakae Krang River, in Mae Wong district, Nakhon Sawan province.
The dam's reservoir will be located within Mae Wong National Park which has drawn strong opposition.
Opponents of the project say it will eliminate 17.6 square kilometres of low-lying forest and reduce the habitat for animals in the national park which covers 900 sq km.