Legal Literacy - Learn practically about the structure of administrative justice to resolve state administrative disputes.

What is a State Administrative Dispute?

A state administrative dispute is a dispute that arises in the administrative field due to the issuance of a state administrative decision.

In general, the legal basis regarding state administrative disputes is contained in Law Number 5 of 1986 concerning State Administrative Courts ("UU PTUN") which has undergone the first amendment through Law 9/2004 and the second amendment through Law 51/2009.

Article 1 number 4 of the UU PTUN regulates the definition of a state administrative dispute as follows.

A State Administrative Dispute is a dispute that arises in the field of State Administration between individuals or private legal entities and State Administrative Bodies or Officials, both at the central and regional levels, as a result of the issuance of a State Administrative Decision, including employment disputes based on prevailing laws and regulations.

Furthermore, from the definition above, there are several elements that we can draw to understand a "dispute" as a "state administrative dispute", namely:

  1. The dispute is in the realm of state administration, including disputes in the field of employment based on prevailing laws and regulations,
  2. The dispute occurs between individuals or legal entities and state administrative bodies or officials, and
  3. The dispute arises because of a state administrative decision.

As a note, state administrative disputes involve many authorities, such as state administrative bodies or officials ("B/P TUN") and State Administrative Courts ("PTUN").

B/P TUN is bound by government administration regulations. In Indonesia, the legal basis for government administration is regulated through Law Number 30 of 2014 concerning Government Administration ("UU Administrasi Pemerintahan").

B/P TUN is also bound by institutional-level administrative regulations that specifically grant them the authority to carry out government administration. There are many B/P TUN in the government structure with their own institutional rules. For example, officials in the field of the Ministry of Health will be bound by regulations in the field of the Ministry of Health. The same logic applies to officials in the field of the Ministry of Finance, state civil apparatus, TNI/POLRI, and the like.

Furthermore, PTUN is guided by other laws and regulations besides the UU PTUN and its amendments, such as Supreme Court Regulations ("PERMA") and Supreme Court Circulars ("SEMA").

Therefore, to understand state administrative disputes, it is not enough to only understand the UU PTUN. We also need to understand the regulations that guide B/P TUN and PTUN.