Legal Literacy - In administering government administration, state administrative officials have administrative authority based on attribution, delegation and mandate.

The Birth of Administrative Authority

When government officials are involved in the administration of government, officials are able to take actions based on the authority vested in them. The existence of authority is important because authority gives legitimacy to officials to act.

In the context of government administration, the government officials involved are state administrative officials along with the administrative authority that legitimizes them. Administrative authority makes the actions of state administrative officials have a valid basis, at least from the point of view of state administrative law.

Quote from Ridwan HR, in his book entitled State Administrative Law, summarizes the opinions of several legal experts who essentially identify authority as something close to power. Authority enables each party to have the power to act. In a democratic country, authority is recognized as one manifestation of power that is limited by certain corridors.

If it is related to the context of state administration, authority is identical to the power possessed by state administrative officials to be involved in the administration of government. It's just that the authority is limited by every instrument that mainly contains legal rules in the field of government administration.

In Indonesia, recognition of administrative authority and its limitations can be found in several laws and regulations in the field of government administration. The main regulation is Law Number 30 of 2014 concerning Government Administration ("Government Administration Law").

Essentially, according to the Government Administration Law, authority is the power possessed by government officials to act in the administration of government. If it is associated with government administration, authority becomes "administrative authority" held by state administrative officials to act in the realm of state administration.

The concrete form of administrative authority is the authority for state administrative officials to stipulate state administrative decisions and/or take action. Authority can be implemented as long as it does not conflict with applicable laws and regulations and the general principles of good governance.

Interestingly, the Government Administration Law distinguishes between the terms "authority" and "power". According to Article 1 number 5, power is the right of government officials to act in the administration of government. From this, it can be understood that authority is the power to act, while power is one form of authority.

Furthermore, the Government Administration Law stipulates that officials obtain administrative authority based on 3 forms of mechanisms, namely attribution, delegation, and mandate. Note that these three mechanisms focus on the source of authority held by officials and do not focus on the consequences caused by the existence of authority.