Hotel land dispute case begins in Slipi
Hotel land dispute case begins in Slipi
JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta District Court began trying a
lawsuit yesterday filed against PT Putra Swadaya Prasetya, a
private company which owns Hotel Ibis in Slipi, West Jakarta, for
allegedly illegally appropriating the plot where the building
stands.
The lawsuit was filed by 77 people who claim to be the legal
heirs of Pangeran Arya Jipang, the former owner of the land.
Under the suit, they asked the court to order PT Putra
Swadaya, a subsidiary of publicly listed property company PT
Putra Surya Perkasa, to vacate the land.
They also demanded compensation of Rp 500 million (US$53,000)
for the material losses they had suffered due to the illegal land
confiscation.
Gelora Tarigan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said that a
representative of PT Putra Swadaya, identified as Budiman, asked
the heirs to sell the land in 1991 but the request was rejected.
Hotel
"Despite the rejection, however, the company, witnessed by the
local subdistrict and district heads, put up fences and started
to build the hotel in 1991," Tarigan said.
Yesterday's court session was attended by the plaintiffs and
their relatives but no representatives of the company.
Tarigan said the 5,199-square-meter plot of land on Jl. S.
Parman belonged to Pangeran Arya Jipang as recorded at the West
Jakarta office of the National Land Agency and the state-owned
Heredity Property Management Body.
He said the plaintiffs were the legal heirs of Pangeran Arya
Jipang as decided by the South Jakarta Islamic Religious Court on
June 15, 1981.
The plaintiffs asked the court to issue an injunction
forbidding the company and its employees from conducting
activities on the land while the lawsuit was being heard, Tarigan
said.
The court was urged to fine the company Rp 5 million everyday
if the company violated the provisional decision, he said.
The plaintiffs also asked the court to confiscate the land as
a guarantee that the company had abided by the court's decision.
Presiding judge Fadly Ilhamy adjourned the trial until May 26
to hear the defendant's statements to the lawsuit without issuing
the requested injunction. (jun)