Bogor judges upset by lack of cases

BOGOR (JP): The district court here announced on Tuesday that all of its 18 judges have had less to do in the past few months due to a significant drop of cases to be tried.

But this does not mean that the drop reflects a renewed willingness on the part of the local people to obey the existing laws.

According to Pasti Serefina Sinaga, spokesman of the court, the decline in the number of cases was obviously due to the substantial reduction in the jurisdictional area from 40 subdistricts (in Bogor and Depok) to only six subdistricts in Bogor effective since Oct. 29 last year.

The other 34 subdistricts in Bogor and Depok, which used to be under the authority of Bogor, have been handed over to Cibinong also in Bogor regency since then, she told reporters.

"In previous times, each panel of three judges could hold 10 trials per day. Now, they have two trials at the most," Sinaga said.

"Sometimes they don't have any," she added.

Sinaga did not clarify whether the shortage of cases handled by the judges also affected their income and that of the staff of the court as well.

Theoretically, the judges and the staff should be happy as they now have only a few things to settle.

In a bid to allow each of the judges to hear at least one case every day, the head of the Bogor District Court has designed a schedule for all of them, Sinaga said.

About a month ago, she added, her office had sent a letter to the Supreme Court office, asking for an additional 10 subdistricts to be under the authority of Bogor.

"The 10 subdistricts are indeed under the supervision of the regency and geographically they're much closer to us than the Cibinong District Court," Sinaga said.

"By doing so, the aim of a cheap, speedy and simple trial could be achieved."

She explained that her office had yet to receive any response from the Supreme Court administration.

In 1998, the Bogor district court handled 726 criminal cases, 196 civil cases and 16,130 cases of motorists ticketed by police for various traffic violations, she said.

So far this year, the court has handled 38 crime cases, 17 civil cases and 487 ticketing offenses. (24/bsr)