Court overrules mayor's eviction notice

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)