Chief Keef -- Too Busy for Court ... Cops on the Hunt

Chief Keef should call Columbus Short in jail ... so Short can explain to him if you blow off court you get thrown in the pokey.

Keef was otherwise occupied and didn't show for his DUI hearing in Highland Park, IL ... it's not much of a case -- he admitted to cops he was smoking before taking the wheel.

So now the 19-year-old is a wanted man and when cops catch him he'll have to post $50K bail for the jail bars to open.