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)