The Supreme Administrative Court has ordered the Prime Minister and the National Environment Board (NEB) to come up with a management plan to address the air pollution problem in the north of Thailand without having to wait for the final verdict in a case that the NEB has appealed.

Chiang Mai city on 6 April 2023, with the air pollution turning the sky brown

The order was made regarding an appeal made by the NEB following a January 2024 Chiang Mai Administrative Court ruling that the Prime Minister and the NEB were either negligent or did not act in a timely manner to combat air pollution in the northern provinces.

Chiang Mai and other northern provinces routinely experience severe air pollution levels between December and April each year, with Chiang Mai often ranking as one of the most polluted cities in the world.

In April 2023, academic, activists, medical professionals, and residents in Chiang Mai filed a class action lawsuit against then-Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the NEB, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Capital Market Supervisory Board (CMSB) for not taking action to solve the air pollution problem facing the northern provinces.

The Chiang Mai Administrative Court ordered the Prime Minister and the NEB to prevent or mitigate the damage caused by air pollution and complete an emergency plan within 90 days of the ruling. However, it dismissed the lawsuits against the SEC and the CMSB on the grounds that the two agencies were not responsible for air pollution, directly or through administrative negligence.

Last Friday (20 September), lawyers responsible for the class action lawsuit were informed of the Supreme Administrative Court’s order in a letter dated 12 September. The court ordered the Prime Minister and the NEB to act on the Chiang Mai Administrative Court’s order without waiting for a final verdict in the case.

The order noted that, according to the NEB, the Air Pollution Management Committee has approved emergency guidelines for managing PM2.5 air pollution for 2024, which will soon be presented to the Prime Minister and the NEB for their approval. The Supreme Administrative Court therefore ruled that, since the NEB is already working on a plan, it is not an problem for the defendants to obey the Chiang Mai Administrative Court’s order and doing so would not lead to damage that would be difficult to remedy or be an obstacle to state functions or public services, and so there is no need to wait for a final verdict.