Seven people have applied for the post of secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) as of Friday, with the agency extending the application deadline from Friday to May 7 after opening on March 20.
Though there is a dispute between the NBTC chairman and commissioners over the recruitment process, several big names applied for the post.
One is Pakorn Apaphant, executive director and member of the executive board of the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency.
NBTC chairman Dr Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck signed the announcement to push the application deadline to May 7 in an effort to attract more applicants.
The announcement was issued on April 5 as too few people had applied for the post as of Wednesday.
NBTC management said there are seven applicants thus far, including Trairat Viriyasirikul, acting secretary-general of the NBTC, who applied on April 5.
The candidates applying on April 7 include Mr Pakorn, Kittsak Sriprasert, former president of CAT Telecom, and Col Thanatmet Phatnarongrat, member of the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Committee of the NBTC.
The others are academic Pisit Boonsrimuang, Dr Polawat Witoolkollachit, former board chairman of KTB Computer Services and former vice-secretariat of the Office of National Digital Economy and Society Commission, and Surangkana Wayuparb, former executive director of the Electronic Transactions Development Agency.
Mr Trairat told the Bangkok Post he decided to apply because he is a veteran NBTC executive and the post is a challenging one.
A source from the NBTC board who requested anonymity said Mr Pakorn is the most outstanding of the candidates and he is believed to have been invited to apply for the job by the NBTC chairman.
Dr Sarana continues to insist that his selection method for the new secretary-general complies with his authority and responsibility under the NBTC laws.
His method calls for the chairman to choose the secretary-general and propose the name to other NBTC commissioners for approval.
Some commissioners are doubtful that this method complies with the NBTC's related laws and regulations.
Dr Sarana cited Section 61 of the NBTC Act, which stipulates that the chairperson, with the consent of the NBTC board, shall appoint the secretary-general.
Earlier Dr Sarana said the secretary-general would have to work closely with him, so it would be impractical if the commissioners jointly selected a secretary-general without his approval.
Some commissioners believe the recruitment process is at risk of being invalidated because it has yet to obtain formal approval from its board to start the recruitment.
On March 7, the board held a meeting to prepare the agenda for the selection of the secretary-general.
At the meeting NBTC management proposed only a draft of candidates' qualifications for the board's consideration. A selection method was proposed separately, but only for their acknowledgement.
The move surprised some commissioners as they believed they had convened to consider both the candidates' qualifications and the selection procedure together.
Three of the six commissioners -- Dr Sarana, Pol Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn and Torpong Selanon -- voted in favour of considering only the draft of candidates' qualifications, instead of both the qualifications and the selection method together.
The other three commissioners reserved the right not to vote on the matter. They were AM Thanapant Raicharoen, Pirongrong Ramasoota and Suphat Suphachalasai.
Dr Sarana claimed he was exercising his power as chairman to cast a tiebreaking vote, resulting in a 4-3 resolution on the issue.
Another NBTC source said according to legal practice, the NBTC board has to provide final approval to the resolution of the March 7 meeting before starting the recruitment process.
On March 29, the NBTC board scheduled a meeting agenda to determine official final approval of the March 7 resolution. The meeting had seven commissioners as the name Sompop Purivigraipong was recently published in the Royal Gazette, making him the seventh commissioner.
However, the NBTC source said the meeting did not call for a vote to approve the resolution on March 7.
Dr Sarana said the 4-3 vote on the resolution at the March 7 meeting is appropriate to move the process forward.
