T

he Supreme Court has declined the city administration'€™s request for a case review in its land dispute with private-property developer PT Porta Nigra, which claims to be the legal owner of a 44-hectare plot of land in West Jakarta.

According to the ruling, the city administration will be forced to pay up to Rp 391 billion (US$33.48 million) in fines to PT Porta Nigra.

'€œ[The Court] declines the city administration'€™s request for a case review in the land dispute against PT Porta Nigra,'€ the Supreme Court stated in a ruling published on the Court'€™s official website.

The ruling, which was filed under case number 585 PK/PDT/2014, was issued on May 22. Valerina JL Kriekhoff led the panel of judges, which also included Hamdan and Syamsul Maarif.

The dispute first emerged during the New Order era, sometime between 1972 and 1973, after PT Porta Nigra acquired a 44 ha plot of land in Meruya, West Jakarta.

The land was then sold to the city, allegedly using forged documents signed by then Meruya subdistrict head Udik Asmat bin Siming.

Porta Nigra filed the dispute with the West Jakarta District Court and the case was moved to a higher level court.

After securing approval from the District Court in 2007, Porta Nigra planned to reacquire the 44 ha plot. The plan was based on the 2001 Supreme Court decision which found it to be the plot'€™s rightful
owners.

After announcing plans to take back the land, the firm encountered strong resistance from hundreds of residents who had built their homes on the land.

As a result, 685 residents representing some 5,500 families living there filed a lawsuit against Porta Nigra and three land brokers who allegedly sold the land to the company, challenging their claim.

At the court, the company claimed that 277 of 685 residents who filed the lawsuit did not have legal standing as they could not present the required documents. The 277 residents allegedly only possessed girik (tax documents), bills of sale and other documents, but not the necessary land ownership certificates.

Then governor Sutiyoso filed a separate lawsuit against Porta Nigra claiming that the city administration owned 18 ha of the 44 ha plot of land.

With the Supreme Court ruling in favor of Porta Nigra, the city administration is now obliged to pay Rp 291 billion in material fines and Rp 100 billion in immaterial fines.

Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said that he had yet to receive reports on the ruling.

'€œWhy do we keep losing in courts, I really wonder?'€ Ahok said.

Responding to the ruling, which requires the city to pay billions of rupiah in fines, Ahok said, '€œwe will make it difficult and make them continue their legal efforts [...] we won'€™t make it easy for them.'€

The deputy governor added that the city would review the land dispute.

'€œWe will study the case further,'€ he added.

'€” JP/Sita W. Dewi