Thaworn suggests solution to land row

       Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam has come up with a proposal which he says will resolve the Alpine land controversy once and for all.
       Mr Thaworn yesterday said there were three steps that needed to be taken to end the ownership dispute over the Alpine land housing development and golf course in Pathum Thani's Klong Luang district.
       The first involves the revocation of the title deeds issued to the property buyers.
       "First of all, the permanent secretary for the interior must nullify the issuance of the title deeds, then turn the property into monastic land and finally issue a law to grant ownership to the home buyers who can prove their rights one by one," he said.
       "The Alpine golf course owners have to prove they had nothing to do with the unlawful purchase in the first place."
       Mr Thaworn said he would write to Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul to ask him to speed up the proposed revocation of the land ownership.
       Interior permanent secretary Wichai Srikwan has the authority to initiate the revocation process, he said.
       The Council of State ruled in 2001 the Alpine land was monastic property and could not be bought or sold.
       The Land Department subsequently issued a revocation order only for it to be rejected by then acting interior permanent secretary Yongyuth Wichaidit.
       The ministry cited a legal technicality that any decision involving the Alpine land would fall under the purview of the administrative law. It set a 90-day deadline for all parties to dispute the current holders of ownership rights. No one came forward, so the land remains in the possession of some 300 home buyers and the golf course operators.
       Mr Thaworn said he reported this to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Friday."I want the controversy to end here with this government. I want to sell this idea to the public," he said.