The Judicial Yuan yesterday said it has proposed amendments to the Court Organization Act (法院組織法) and other laws in a bid to hire more judicial staff and tackle the issue of overwork.
Case numbers have risen significantly in the past few years, which has led to judges, clerks and other staff being overworked, the Judicial Yuan said.
A judge fell to his death from a building, a judge fell into a coma in his office and a clerk passed away from illness, it said, citing what it called cases linked to overwork.
Photo: Yang Kuo-wen, Taipei Times
To meet its personnel needs and process outstanding cases, 5,536 new staff would need to be hired, it said.
“We hope the Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Personnel Administration can recognize the urgent need for additional judiciary staff,” it said, adding that it hoped the Act Governing the Total Number of Personnel Headcounts of Central Government Agencies (行政院人事行政總處) could be amended to allow more hiring.
A Judicial Yuan report said that the number of annual cases received by local courts over the past decade grew by 28 percent from 2.84 million in 2014 to 3.63 million last year.
The number of open cases also rose, increasing from 187,635 in 2014 to 367,171 last year, or 96 percent, the report said.
Although measures have been implemented to reduce the burden on the court system, it was still unable to keep up with the growth in case numbers, it said.
The law stipulates that the Judicial Yuan and its agencies combined are allowed a maximum of 15,000 staff members.
The agencies budgeted for 14,508 staff members this year, but an additional 5,536 would be needed to clear open cases, the Judicial Yuan said.
The Legislative Yuan’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday met with Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Wu San-lung (吳三龍) and cross-party legislators.
The committee asked Wu to prepare a report on how the burden on the court system could be reduced through “administrative simplification, litigation reduction and the application of technology.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) echoed calls for an increase in judicial hirings, and called for better treatment of judicial personnel and the implementation of a dispute pyramid, which would see more issues settled outside of court.
DPP Legislator Chen Chun-yu (陳俊宇) asked Wu what a reasonable caseload would be for the judiciary.
Wu said that he would discuss the issue with judicial staff.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) also called for increased hiring of judicial staff and said he had drafted an amendment on the issue.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that the Judges’ Association of the Republic of China had already issued a statement asking the Judicial Yuan to tackle the staff shortage issue and to respond to it with a proposal within one month.
Wu said he would do his best to respond to the association within that time.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor. The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference. Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation. A national security official said that former Mainland