Lack Of Number Of Judges, Supreme Court Gives Permit For Dispensation Of Single Judges In PN

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Sunarto (left) during the 2024 MA Annual Report at the MA Building, Jakarta, Wednesday (19/2/2025). (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (MA) Sunarto said that his party issued a dispensation permit to convene with a single judge at the District Court (PN) to overcome the shortage of judges in handling incoming cases.

The high workload of judges in the first instance court showed a shortage of judges. To overcome the shortage of judges, the Supreme Court issued a dispensation permit to convene with a single judge," said Sunarto during the 2024 MA Annual Report at the MA Building, Jakarta, Wednesday, February 19, which was confiscated by Antara.

The total caseload in 2024 in the first instance court in four judicial environments reached 2,991,747 cases. That number consists of 2,927,815 cases entered in the same year, plus 63,932 remaining cases from 2023.

All cases were handled by 5,804 first-degree judges. In addition, for corruption cases and cases of industrial relations disputes were also handled by first-degree ad hoc judges, totaling 350 people.

"The comparison of the number of judges and the number of case expenses shows that the average case burden for each judge in the first level in a year is 1,547 cases," said the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Of the total caseload, 2,856,821 of them have been decided and 61,804 other cases revoked. Therefore, the remaining cases in the first instance court in 2024 are 73,122 cases.

"Thus, the ratio of productivity to decide in the first instance court in the four judicial environments is 97.56 percent," said Sunarto.

In addition, Sunarto also explained the performance of the appeal-level court and the tax court. He said that the caseload throughout 2024 on the two types of courts reached 58,205 cases.

This number consists of 44,859 incoming cases and 13,346 remaining cases from 2023. Of the total caseloads, 46,860 of them have been successfully decided.

"Thus, the ratio of the case settlement productivity in court level appeals and tax courts is 80.56 percent, an increase of 5.08 percent from 2023," said the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.