The Central Administrative Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) that the 2,500 rai of disputed land at Buddha Monthon park in Buddha Monthon district of Nakhon Pathom is "central religious property", not state land as some believe.
The ruling will effectively prohibit the Treasury Department from attempting to register Buddha Monthon park as state land.
The term "central religious property", as stated in Section 46 (1) of the Sangha Act 1941, refers to properties belonging to Buddhism and includes land, buildings and all other conjoined additions.
The court cited the park's long history of establishment to support its ruling.
Buddha Monthon park was built to commemorate the 25th Buddhist century.
The parkland acquisition began with King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great purchasing the initial piece of land measuring 135 rai from the Crown Property Bureau to be donated to Buddhism, said the ruling.
Afterwards, more land was added with people, including U Nu, the first prime minister of the Union of Burma, making donations and raising funds to purchase more land in the surrounding areas until the park expanded to 2,205 rai, according to the ruling.
The goal was to enlarge the park to 2,500 rai.
To achieve that target, the ruling said the government expropriated 295 rai of adjacent land at the time.
The ruling said that since the purpose of the government's land expropriation was not to make the expropriated land serve the general public but Buddhism, it could never be regarded as state land.
When taking into account the intention of the late King, the government and all donors who had contributed to securing the 2,500 rai land for building Buddha Monthon park, which clearly was for donating to religion, the land belongs in its entirety to the religion not the state, the ruling added.