The Office of the Ombudsman will get another chance to argue against the 3G auction process.
The Supreme Administrative Court yesterday agreed to hear its appeal against a lower court's decision which rejected its challenge to the auction process.
The Administrative Court on Dec 3 knocked back a challenge filed by the ombudsman seeking to suspend the process of awarding 3G licences to the three bid winners.
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The ombudsman has now lodged an appeal, which it sent by post to the Supreme Administrative Court on Dec 28. The court has now accepted the appeal for hearing, Raksagecha Chaechai, deputy secretary-general of the office, said yesterday.
The lower court said on Dec 3 that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), which held the auction for 3G licences, did not have civil servant status and so did not fall within the Ombudsman's jurisdiction.
The court dismissed the Ombudsman's lawsuit saying the Ombudsman had no mandate to petition the court.
In the Ombudsman's appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court it insisted the NBTC was not a juristic person but a state agency. This meant it was in fact within its rights to lodge the lawsuit.
Mr Raksagecha said he believed the Supreme Administrative Court would treat the appeal with urgency and implement temporary measures to halt the licensing process while it considered the petition.The Oct 16, 2011, auction of nine slots of 2.1 GHz spectrum drew criticism from academics, consumer rights activists and the public after it raised only 41.6 billion baht.