Close to 14,000 cases were lodged with the Supreme and District Courts between 2016-2017 with only 8453 getting heard.

And out of the total number of cases which went before the Courts, a total of 5518 cases were further adjourned.

These data were revealed recently in the Ministry of Finance’s Budget Monitoring Report on the full year performance analysis for financial years 2016-2017, which has been submitted to Cabinet for its deliberations.

For the Lands and Titles Court, a total of 771 cases were scheduled with 745 completed and 25 adjournment cases pending. At that time there were 94 cases listed for appeal with 68 completed and 68 outstanding matters adjourned. 

The Ministry of Finance report further stated that all probation and parole services key performance indicators were successfully achieved for the year under review, with a high turnover of reports, letters, pre-sentence of meetings, and family group conferences reported. 

“The same was noted for management of warrants and bailiffs’ services with 100 per cent of all small claims issues. The 75 per cent of cases referred for mediation were successfully mediated.”

Another issue highlighted by the budget officers was the failure by the Ministry of Justice and Court Administration to effectively monitor compliance or maintenance related-cases through visitations. 

In relation to the Court in Savai’i Tuasivi, all cases received were scheduled and filed at the Tuasivi Court.

But out of the 1154 cases, only 1101 went to Court in the 2016-2017 period. Mediation matters received totaled 817 with 773 completed and 95 per cent of those matters were completed within 45 working days.

Files at Tuasivi are also undergoing a digitalization process with 62 per cent of files digitized while 83 per cent of cases were transcribed successfully. 

All sector coordination key performance indicators were also achieved successfully. In relation to film classification and impromptu compliance checks, only 43 out of the 48 scheduled compliance checks were done within the period under review.