Supreme Court grants `stay of compensation' for government
Supreme Court grants `stay of compensation' for government
JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court has granted a stay of
implementation in its ruling compelling the government to pay
hefty compensations to villagers who have been displaced by the
huge Kedungombo reservoir in Central Java.
The letter approving the delay in the implementation reached
the Central Java District Court on Saturday, only five hours
after the 34 villagers' lawyers submitted their petition with the
court asking that the Supreme Court order the government to pay
up immediately, the Antara news agency reported.
Monang Siringo Ringo, chief of the district court, said his
office would study the villagers' petition and pass it on to the
Supreme Court, in spite of the granting of the stay of
implementation.
The Supreme Court had earlier said that a stay of
implementation could only be granted under exceptional
circumstances. The Antara report did not state the grounds for
the court's decision.
The villagers have given power of attorney to the Indonesian
Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) in Jakarta and the Legal Aid
Foundation office in Semarang, Central Java, to pursue the matter
with the Supreme Court.
Their lawyers, including Haryono Tjitro Subono and Amartiwi
Saleh, have filed the petition for an immediate ruling in a
letter on Aug. 4.
They beat the Central Java provincial government which has
announced its intention of petitioning for a review of the case
in the litigation over the amount of compensation it should pay
to the displaced villagers.
Controversial decision
The Supreme Court in a controversial decision reversed the
rulings of two lower courts which supported the government and
set the compensation rate at amounts higher than the government
was willing to offer, and even higher than the villagers had
sought.
The decision angered the government who is particularly
concerned that the ruling could prompt some 60,000 other
villagers, who were displaced by the Kedungombo dam but had
accepted the compensation, to rethink their position.
The Supreme Court set the compensation at Rp 50,000 per square
meter, compared to Rp 4,000 offered by the government and Rp
10,000 sought by the farmers. The Court also ordered the
government to pay Rp 2 billion ($952,000) in "non-material"
losses to the farmers.
The government has responded that it cannot immediately pay up
because it has to account for every cent it pays out before the
House of Representatives which scrutinizes its spending.
President Soeharto early this month urged Chief Justice
Purwoto Gandasubrata to pass the fairest judgment possible on the
case, taking into account the interest of the people.
The lawyers, in their petition for immediate implementation,
said their clients on July 21 tried to meet with the Governor of
Central Java to discuss "peacefully" the issue and asked that the
government "voluntarily" pay up.
The request for a meeting had not been answered and in view of
this, the lawyers urged the Supreme Court to compel the
government to pay.
The Supreme Court ruling, dated on July 28, 1993, only became
public last month, after LBH office in Semarang, which had
represented the farmers, came across the copy. (emb)