Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Jatam in IKN Project Dispute
The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Jatam Kaltim’s lawsuit against the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (PUPR) regarding a dispute over information requests related to several projects in the new capital city, Nusantara (IKN).
The ruling means that PUPR must disclose information related to several project documents in IKN that were previously kept confidential.
“The Ministry of PUPR will open five documents, which have been declared by the Central Information Commission as documents that are open to the public,” said the Advocacy and Legal Division of Jatam Kaltim, Abdul Azis, during a press conference titled ‘Citizens Win Against the Minister of PUPR: Open IKN Information Documents’ on the JATAM Nasional YouTube channel, last Friday (February 13).
The five documents that PUPR must disclose to the public as a result of the ruling include the Environmental Impact Assessment (AMDAL) for the construction of the Sepaku-Semoi Dam, the AMDAL for the construction of the Sepaku Intake and transmission pipeline network, the document for the administrative statement of identity for the dam construction, the application for a building permit for water resources, and the document for the principle of approval for the construction of the Sepaku-Semoi Dam.
Abdul also explained the chronology of the case between Jatam Kaltim and the Ministry of PUPR. He said that it all started in 2022, when Jatam Kaltim was conducting research in IKN.
In the report, Jatam Kaltim asked PUPR to open several documents to the public, especially regarding the construction of the Sepaku Dam and Intake.
“This was not provided by the Ministry of PUPR at that time. More precisely, on around October 17, 2022, Jatam Kaltim submitted an information request to the Ministry of PUPR with the letter number 05/Jatam Kaltim/2022,” he said.
In response, PUPR rejected their request, stating that the documents were confidential and not open to the public. However, Jatam Kaltim argued that documents such as AMDAL and technical documents should be open to the public.
After that, Jatam Kaltim filed a request for settlement of the information dispute with the Central Information Commission on February 22, 2023, and the request was registered with the case number 11/2023.
“In the trial process at the Central Information Commission, the panel of judges conducted a consequential test. Whether it is true that the documents that were then requested by Jatam Kaltim, at least seven documents, are documents that are excluded in accordance with Article 17 of the Public Information Law. The facts of the trial showed that the requested documents are documents that are open to the public and when tested for consequences, there are no dangerous consequences if the documents are opened to the public,” he said.
He said that in its decision, the Central Information Commission granted the request, asking PUPR to open five of the seven documents included in Jatam Kaltim’s request.
However, after that, Abdul said that PUPR did not immediately provide the documents in the request, but instead filed an appeal to the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN). The result did not change, PTUN upheld the decision of the Central Information Commission.
Not stopping there, PUPR pursued a cassation to the Supreme Court, but again, the Supreme Court also rejected PUPR’s appeal.
“So that it should or in the sense that the Ministry of PUPR must carry out the decision of the Central Information Commission, which then opens five of the seven documents requested by Jatam Kaltim at that time,” he said.