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Supreme Court inundated with cases amid shortage of justices
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The Supreme Court building in Central Jakarta. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court/-)
The Supreme Court has said it has been inundated by an increasing number of cases as it struggles with a shortage of justices.
“Currently, the ratio between the number of judges and the cases we receive is not ideal,” Supreme Court spokesman Abdullah told The Jakarta Post on Monday. “We typically receive around 20,000 cases each year that must be handled by around 40 Supreme Court justices. So you can imagine how overwhelmed we have been.”
The country’s top court produced 20,058 rulings in 2019 compared to 17,638 in 2018, lifting its productivity rate to almost 99 percent from 95 percent the preceding year. Ninety-six percent, or more than 19,000, of the rulings were made in less than three months from the time the cases were received by the court.
With its lack of justices, the court considers this an accomplishment, although it has faced criticism over inconsistent rulings and concerns the rulings may have been compromised to meet productivity targets.
Three Supreme Court justices have retired while two others passed away last year, reducing the number of justices from 42 to 37. Earlier this month, the court inaugurated five new justices, as well three ad-hoc judges. However, the number of justices at the Supreme Court remains far below the maximum 60 justices allowed under the 2009 Supreme Court Law.
“We will coordinate with the Judicial Commission to increase the number of judges. Every year, we ask the commission to open its selection process if necessary,” Abdullah said. “But the commission’s selection process is very rigid. It only selects a few candidates from hundreds of applicants and we can’t change the process."
The Judicial Commission, the body responsible for conducting the selection process for justices and ad hoc judges, has urged the Supreme Court to send a proposal if it requires additional judges. However, commission chairman Jaja Ahmad Jayus said it had not received a proposal.
