New justices needed to handle backlogged cases
New justices needed to handle backlogged cases
JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court will never try the 14,000
backlogged cases piling up unless the government recruits
"extraordinary" justices to handle them, a legal expert said
yesterday.
Yusril Ihza Mahendra said there is no way the existing 52
justices at the Supreme Court would be able to clear the backlog
even if they work 24 hours a day.
To make things worse, he said, now only 42 justices are
available and the remaining 10 position are empty for various
reasons.
"The government can recruit as many extraordinary justices as
possible. If they think they need 200 justices, just appoint that
many. That's the only way to solve the backlog at the Supreme
Court," Yusril, head of state structure department of University
of Indonesia's School of Law, told Antara.
Concern over the long-standing backlog has been voiced
increasingly lately as Chief Justice Soerjono will retire on Nov.
1. His deputy Muhammad Djaelani retired last month.
The House of Representatives proposed on Oct. 18, during its
plenary session, two candidates for the post of chief justice:
Deputy Chief Justice for Military Tribunals Sarwata and Justice
Suwardi Martowirono.
The House also proposed two others for the position of deputy
chief justice: State Administrative Court Deputy Chief Justice
T.H. Ketut Saraputra and Justice Chabib Sjarbini.
Yusril said that extraordinary justices can be recruited from
senior legal experts or law professors. "I think all the law
professors can be approached.
"I will accept if the Supreme Court asks me to become an
extraordinary justice. As a constitutional law expert, I could
handle subversion cases," he said.
Currently, the Supreme Court lacks justices with a background
of constitutional law. As a consequence, Tempo magazine's appeal
against its 1994 closure was handled by a customary law expert.
He also suggested that to reduce the backlog, the Supreme
Court should tighten the rules on cases that may be brought
before it.
He added that the proposal may encounter opposition because
people may feel their rights to an appeal are being denied.
According to civil law and the Criminal Code, all people have
the right to appeal at the High Court and the Supreme Court. They
also may ask for reevaluation of their cases, with exception to
certain cases such as traffic accidents, which go directly to the
Supreme Court, he said.
"The pertaining laws will make it extremely difficult to limit
the kinds of cases that can be appealed at the Supreme Court.
Maybe the laws need revising," he said.
He pointed out that people appeal to the Supreme Court simply
because they seek to postpone the implementation of their
verdict. (ste)