The qualification crisis involving the chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) could become a hot potato in Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s hands, warns a legal expert who requested anonymity.
He said Mr Anutin should examine all the details carefully before taking any further action on the case.
One issue is whether the NBTC selection committee has full authority to pass a resolution on July 17 that NBTC chairman Dr Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck lacks the qualifications to hold the office.
“Resolving the current disputes through a legal and transparent process would help safeguard the independence of the telecom regulator, minimise future litigation and reinforce confidence among investors, telecom operators and other stakeholders in Thailand’s regulatory framework,” the legal expert added.
Last week, the Central Administrative Court dismissed the petition filed by Dr Sarana against the selection committee’s resolution.
The court did not rule on the legality of the selection committee’s resolution. Instead, it dismissed Dr Sarana’s petition on the grounds that he had not yet suffered a legally actionable injury from the committee’s resolution, meaning the conditions required for the court to accept his lawsuit for consideration had not been met.
According to the expert, the court ruling indicates that Dr Sarana remains the lawful NBTC chairman because the process for seeking a royal command to remove him from the post has not yet been conducted by Mr Anutin.
On July 17, the NBTC selection committee voted that Dr Sarana was prohibited from serving as chairman under the 2010 NBTC Act.
The law states that commissioners must not be employees of state agencies or state enterprises, nor directors or advisors to state enterprises or state agencies.
On Dec 22, the Senate instructed the five candidates, including Dr Sarana, to resign from any prohibited posts mentioned in the law by Jan 11, 2022.
All of them were royally appointed on April 13, 2022.
Later, the NBTC selection panel was shown evidence that Dr Sarana still allegedly held temporary employee status as a physician at Ramathibodi Hospital’s Faculty of Medicine, with hourly payments from Jan 8 to April 12, 2022. This resulted in the panel passing a resolution to disqualify him on July 17.
Later, Dr Sarana said he was not a government officer, having resigned from government service on Jan 8, 2022, nor was he an employee.
The legal expert noted that the selection committee’s authority remains highly contentious.
Earlier, former selection committee member Narong Ratamarit formally wrote to both the prime minister and the Senate president, arguing that the committee’s responsibilities ended once the NBTC selection process was completed and the successful candidates received a royal appointment.
According to Mr Narong, no provision of the NBTC Act authorises the committee to revisit or revoke the status of the commissioners after the royal appointment took effect.
The legal expert added that another selection committee member, Yupin Chalanonniwat, also believed that the committee’s authority ended once the NBTC candidates were royally appointed.
The legal expert said Dr Sarana also produced evidence showing that he submitted his resignation from the Faculty of Medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital after he was selected by the Senate to be an NBTC commissioner and before the royal appointment.
Recently, another legal issue was raised about the qualifications of Kiatipong Amatayakul, who chaired the selection committee meeting on July 21, 2026, to approve its resolution on the Dr Sarana case.
The legal expert noted that Mr Kiatipong was expected to be over 70 years old during such a meeting, raising the question as to whether he was qualified under relevant NBTC law to be a selection committee member during that time regarding his age.
Recently, Dr Sarana sent a letter to Mr Anutin, seeking justice and aiming to resolve the deadlock at the regulator over his qualifications.
