The summer vacation of Supreme Court judges is starting from 20th May and the court will open again on 8th July. That means the court will remain closed for 48 days. There has been a debate going on for a long time regarding these holidays of judges, on which Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Supreme Court Judge Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai have also reacted. He says that people are seeing these holidays, but they do not see that judges do not even get weekly off. CJI Chandrachud said, ‘Our district judges do not take a single day off, they have to do legal camps and administrative work.’ Justice Gavai had also told that judges write judgments even during summer vacations.
In the year 2022, the then Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had said that people feel that long holidays can cause problems to those who are waiting for justice in cases. He said that it is his responsibility and duty to convey this message to the judiciary.
When are the courts closed? Apart from the summer vacations, the courts take a one-week holiday each on Dussehra and Diwali and remain closed for two weeks in late December. This schedule of holidays has been running since the time of British rule, which has been criticized many times. The summer vacations of the Supreme Court start from the end of May and continue till July.
Supreme Court, High Court and Trial Court – how many days do they work? Among the Supreme Court, High Court and Trial Court, the Trial Court works for the maximum number of days in a year. The Supreme Court works for 193 days a year, while the High Court works for 210 days. Moreover, trial courts function 245 days out of 365. The High Court has the power to prepare the calendar as per the service rules.
How are important hearings held during summer holidays? During the long holidays of about 48 days, a vacation bench is formed to hear important cases, which consists of two to three judges. This bench hears urgent cases. Like bail petitions or such cases which do not have scope for waiting, they are given priority for hearing in the vacation bench.
Many times, regarding long holidays, it was also told by the lawyers and judges that this is a profession in which one has to work for many hours. After working in the court, one has to go home and study the case, read the arguments of the previous hearings and then prepare for the hearing the next day. In such situations, holidays are required. If we look at the schedule of judges, they work at least 10 hours a day. After working in the court from 10.30 am to 4 pm, they have to study cases, read arguments and prepare for the next day’s hearing. Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai had told that when judges go on holidays, they also write judgments.
There is also a debate regarding the leave of judges that when the session is going on, judges cannot take leave like other working professionals. That is, the way professionals working in other fields take leave for family functions or other programs, judges should not take the same leave. It is important to remember here that in the year 2015, the bench of Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice Prafulla Pant heard the Yakub Menon case at midnight and then went to the court the next day to hear other cases.
Judges have the facility to take leave only in certain cases during the session. Like if there is an emergency in the family or there is a health-related problem. However, he can take leave occasionally for social events.