THE current flashpoint between the government and the judiciary relates to holidays as well. On December 15, 2022, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju made a case in the Rajya Sabha for a new system to appoint judges and showed his concern about pendency of cases. He also commented on long vacations of courts, asserting that it hampers the justice delivery system.
A day after he spoke, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud made a pointed remark that there would be no vacation bench during the Christmas period (which usually is the case, unless specially required). In fact, Rajeev Shukla, Congress MP, had asked about the working hours of courts and the law minister gave a detailed reply to it. He said: “As per the information provided by the Supreme Court of India, during the last three years, the average number of court working days of the Supreme Court were 224 (2019), 217 (2020) and 202 (2021).”
The average work days of the apex court per year works out to 214 days. Summer vacation accounts for 45 days; winter vacation, 15 days and Holi holiday is for one week. During Dussehra and Diwali, the Court closes for five days each. With 70,000 cases in the apex court, the backlog is backbreaking. In this context, long breaks assume significance.
This story is from the January 16, 2023 edition of India Legal.
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This story is from the January 16, 2023 edition of India Legal.
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