Court rules Buddha Monthon park is not state land

The ruling by the Central Administrative Court on Wednesday was a victory for the National Office of Buddhism (NOB), which contended that the disputed 2,500 rai of land at Buddha Monthon park in Buddha Monthon district of Nakhon Pathom is “central religious property” and not state land as some people believed.

The ruling will essentially preclude the Treasury Department from making any further attempt to register Buddha Monthon park as state land.

According to Section 46 (1) of the Sangha Act 1941, ‘central religious property’ means property belonging to Buddhism which includes land, building and all other attached appendages.

To bolster its ruling, the court pointed to the long establishment of the park.

Buddha Monthon park was created to celebrate the 25th buddhist centuries.

The acquisition of land for the park began with King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great buying the first plot, of 135 rai, from the Crown Property Bureau to be donated to Buddhism, the ruling said.

Later, with U Nu, the first prime minister of the Union of Burma among more people donating and raising funds to purchase more land in the surrounding area, until the park was expanded to 2,205 rai, according to the ruling.

She aimed to expand the park to 2,500 rai.

At the time, the government expropriated 295 rai of adjacent land to meet that target, the ruling said.

Since the goal of the government’s land expropriation was not to make the expropriated land serve the general public but rather Buddhism, the ruling held, the land could never be considered state land.

Given the will of the late King, the government and all donors, organizations and individual contributors who had donated to the construction of Buddha Monthon park​ on the 2,500 rai of land and who were clearly donating to religion, the land belongs fully to the religion not the state, the ruling stated.