SRT row over revoking land titles risks state payouts
Akenarong Cherdpan, a provincial public prosecutor at the Office of the Attorney-General, said the conflict involves more than 5,083 rai of land claimed by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) under a royal decree issued during King Rama VI's reign. The dispute began when 35 residents occupying 170 rai sought title deeds in 2011. The SRT contested their claims, and the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favour of the state agency, ordering the eviction of those residents.
Following the ruling, the SRT tried to use the decision to annul more than 995 titles, now held by individuals and private entities, including the Chidchob family, who are linked to the opposition Bhumjaithai Party. A source says the Chidchob family owns about 288 rai of the disputed land, held under the names of individuals and companies such as K Motorsport Co Ltd, which runs a sports arena; K 2009 Lease Co Ltd, which manages the Chang Arena football stadium; and Buriram United Sport Hotel Co Ltd, which runs a hotel. When the Bhumjaithai Party headed the Interior Ministry, the Department of Lands (DoL) questioned the reliability of the SRT's reference maps, some of which may have been updated in 1996 and were inconsistent with the original decree, the source said. The SRT, under the Transport Ministry and led by the Pheu Thai Party, filed a lawsuit against the DoL in 2023 at the Administrative Court, seeking the revocation of 995 land titles and the awarding of compensation.
The court ruled the DoL should set up a probe committee, but did not order the direct cancellation of the titles. Mr Akenarong said the DoL set up the committee, which found the SRT's maps remained unreliable, and ordered the case closed in 2024. The SRT then took two further actions: refiling with the Administrative Court to overturn the closure order, and submitting cases to the Office of the Attorney-General to sue individual landowners for title revocation. After Phumtham Wechayachai, of Pheu Thai, took over as Interior Minister from Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul, the ministry reopened the matter and instructed the DoL to revoke titles for plots that could be verified, based on earlier joint surveys with the SRT. "If the DoL follows this approach, landowners will resist. They argue the Supreme Court ruling applies only to the 35 cases and cannot be extended, while the SRT maps cannot be confirmed as legally valid under the royal decree. This could trigger further lawsuits, delaying resolution for years," Mr Akenarong said.
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