Constitutional Court turns down judicial review of oil and gas contract

The Constitutional Court has turned down the petition filed by several legislators that the House of Representatives be authorized to accept or reject an oil and gas contract.

The Court read out on Tuesday its decision on the petition for a judicial review of Oil and Gas Law No. 22/2001 regarding the matter, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said in a statement.

The petition was filed by Zainal Arimin, Sonny Keraf, Alvin Lie, Ismayatun, Hendarso Hadiparmono, Bambang Wuryanto, Dradjad Wibowo and Tjatur Sapto Edy. The lergislators argue that an article of the law stating that every oil and gas joint cooperation contract already signed by the government and contractor should be notified in writing to the House of Representatives contravenes several other articles of the law and the country's Constitution of 1945 that underlines the oil and gas resources belong to the people.

They thus argue that all oil and gas cooperation contracts need approval from the House as the representative of the people.

In its verdict, the Court argues that the complainants have no legal standing in submitting application for judicial review of the law thus the application must be declared unacceptable and the substances of the application need not be considered further, according to the ministry. (Bernard)