While it is widely expected that the Council of Grand Justices will decide today on the Executive Yuan's decision to scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the council is still struggling to gain the needed support to rule the decision unconstitutional, sources close to the grand justices say.
Of the 15 justices, more than half feel the Executive Yuan's decision to halt the nuclear power plant was unconstitutional.
However, those who disagree are trying to get the council to come up with an interpretation that focuses on procedural error rather than the decision's constitutionality, one source close to the Council of Grand Justices told the Taipei Times yesterday.
The council is currently just shy of the required two-thirds vote needed to judge the decision unconstitutional, the source said.
However, those justices who view the Executive Yuan's decision as constitutional still insist on their point of view and are adamant in their stance, the source said.
In fact, the debate became so heated at one point that the council had discussed whether they would accept or reject the application for a constitutional interpretation of the Cabinet's decision.
Continual media coverage of the decision, which has predicted the council would rule against the Executive Yuan, has in part contributed to the rise in Taiwan's stock market during the last few days.
Reports yesterday even claimed that the Ministry of Economic Affairs had told officials from state-run Taipower (台電) to resume construction of the US$6.3 billion project.
Asked whether the reports were having any impact on the grand justices, the source replied squarely: "Sure, they are human after all."
While it is widely expected that the council will hand down its ruling today, the justices remained tight-lipped and refused to confirm the final date of their ruling.
The general consensus, however, is that a decision should come before Chinese New Year, which starts on Jan. 24.
The grand justices seem to agree that the Executive Yuan, as the highest administrative organ of the state, does have the power to adjust major policies when necessary, the source said.
But, according to the ROC Constitution, the Legislative Yuan "shall have the power to decide by resolution upon statutory or budgetary bills and other important affairs of the state."
The grand justices tend to believe that the Executive Yuan's procedure, in which they decided to scrap the nuclear power plant without reporting it to the Legislative Yuan, was inappropriate and had violated the Constitution, he said.
Meanwhile, anti-nuclear activists submitted a petition to the Judicial Yuan yesterday asking it to hold a public hearing so that it could hear different opinions related to the legitimacy of building the nuclear power plant.
Environmentalists from the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU), the Taiwan Anti-nuclear Action Alliance, the Taiwan Association of University Professors and the Taiwan Green Party, said that the justices could draw out a wise decision only if they heard a diverse range of opinions regarding the issue.
The plant, environmentalists said, was presented by the former KMT Cabinet as a budget case.
"Therefore, the Executive Yuan has the right to decide the future of the nuclear plant, and the Legislative Yuan has only the right to monitor budget-related issues," said Kao Cheng-yen (
Responding to the environmentalist, Yang Jen-shau (
"The explanation has nothing to do with the controversy over the plant itself," Yang said.
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