Officials' must obey court's summon, Chief Justice says
Officials' must obey court's summon, Chief Justice says
JAKARTA (JP): Chief Justice R. Soerjono reminded government
officials yesterday that their presence was mandatory when they
are summoned by the state administrative court in connection with
any legal suit filed against them.
"The law authorizes the State Administrative Court to force
government officials to appear in court as scheduled," Soerjono
told reporters after installing several new heads of High State
Administrative Court.
He said the head of the State Administrative Court would
repeat his summons if the official fails to show up. If he does
not respond to the third call, the court may lodge a complaint
with the official's superior, he added.
Requiring government officials to appear in the state
administrative court has long been debated here.
The Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN Jakarta) had to
issue three letters of summons in 1992 to make the then Jakarta's
Deputy Governor Basofi Sudirman appear at the trial. Basofi had
to testify in a dispute over a plot of land on Jl. Gatot Subroto
in South Jakarta.
He was asked to appear because he was the one who violated a
court ruling which put the land on status quo until a final
decision was reached.
In the latest case, Minister of Information Harmoko failed to
present his defense on time as required by the State
Administrative Court here which handled a law suit filed against
him for banning Tempo magazine in June for dubious reasons.
A court session was originally to hear Harmoko's defense early
this month, but his lawyer R. Wiyono said that his client needed
more time to respond to the lawsuit filed by Goenawan Mohamad,
the proprietor of the closed weekly.
Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman, who attended yesterday's
inauguration ceremony, said that a government official does not
have to appear in court.
"The official's presence could be delegated to any authorized
person," he said. "The official's presence is needed only for
crucial matters, which require him to testify in court in
person," he added.
Quality
Soerjono said that the recent raise in salaries must encourage
corps of judges, including those of the State Administrative
Court, to improve their performance and services.
"Judges should improve the quality of their decisions," he
said. He added that judges' decisions should be free from
external intervention.
The three judges of high court inaugurated yesterday were
Charis Soebijanto as the new head of the Jakarta High State
Administrative Court, Marcus Lande as the new head of the Medan
High State Administrative Court in North Sumatra, and Gustaf
Armenia Pasaribu as the new head of the Ujungpandang High State
Administrative Court in South Sulawesi.
Charis, who was former head of the Medan High State
Administrative Court, replaces R. Soebandono who is entering the
period of retirement, while Marcus, former head of the
Ujungpandang High State Administrative Court replaces Charis'
position and Gustaf, former deputy head of the Medan High State
Administrative Court, is to replace Marcus.(imn)