Court overrules mayor's eviction notice

JAKARTA (JP): A court overruled yesterday a Jakarta mayor's instruction ordering shop owners to vacate a shopping center in the downtown Glodok commercial center.

Presiding judge Soemaryono of the Jakarta State Administrative Court said that the eviction notices issued by the West Jakarta mayoralty in January to dozens of traders in the Glodok Metro shopping strip were issued without any legal basis, and that the mayoralty had acted beyond its authority.

West Jakarta Mayor Sutardjianto instructed the closure of the shopping strip on Jan. 24 on the grounds that the shop owners had failed to pay their rent on time.

The court's decision came eight months after the traders filed suit.

"The 12 shop owners I am representing are very excited over the ruling," Gunawan Tjahjadi told The Jakarta Post by phone yesterday.

He added that initially there were about 50 shop owners who wanted to jointly file suit, but gradually the number went down to 12.

Dozens of shop owners reopened their shops soon after the mayor's letter was issued, after paying fees to PT Binacitra Tataswati, a private company which operates the government-owned shopping center, he said.

"We will use today's ruling as the basis of our next lawsuit against the mayoralty and Binacitra. In our next lawsuit we'll demand compensation from them," he said.

Gunawan said the problem stemmed from a disagreement over the lease offered by Binacitra, a private firm appointed by city- owned PD Pasar Jaya to manage the Glodok Metro Bridge, which his clients found to be excessive.

The evacuation of the traders was the climax of weeks of dispute between his clients and the company. The traders considered the Rp 20 million to Rp 22 million per square meter in rent for 20 years asked by the company too high.

Overshadowing the dispute was the government's plan to build a three-level freeway in the district that may see the walkway demolished. (26)