Tangerang court needs more space

TANGERANG (JP): Tangerang District Court is seeking financial assistance to expand its building.

Judges often have to postpone hearings since the court only has one main courtroom and four smaller ones, district court chief Haogoaro Harefa told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He said such a situation dramatically reduced the court's performance, especially considering the huge number of cases coming in.

"We don't want to put those cases on hold," Harefa said, adding "the government has yet to respond to our proposal."

The proposal had been lodged with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights last year and early this year.

Harefa said he hoped the public would donate funds for the building extension.

District court spokesman Silverter Djuma said the court had received more than 800 criminal and civil cases since January.

"Despite limited space we could process 520 out of 600 criminal cases since January this year," Djuma told the Post by phone on Saturday.

He said 50 percent of the criminal cases were drug offenses. One hundred out of 200 civil cases had also been settled through the court as of August, he added. (41)