Stung by criticism over being on ‘holiday’ for seven weeks in summer, the Supreme Court, with the approval of the President of India, amended its rules to introduce ‘partial working days’ in place of the term “summer vacation”, a decision which aims to highlight the fact that some seats continue to operate even during the court’s annual summer vacation.

The change, announced in the Gazette on Thursday, aims to counter the public and government perception that the court remains completely inactive during its seven-week hiatus, from late May to mid-July. Beginning in 2025, this new terminology will appear on the Supreme Court calendar, replacing “summer vacation.”

The Supreme Court also replaced the term “judge on vacation” with simply “judge”, emphasizing that even during breaks, a section of the court continues to function.

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According to sources close to the case, the decision was taken during a plenary meeting of the court, during which the judges considered that the “summer vacation” wrongly suggested a complete shutdown of judicial work. “Partial workdays” reflect the reality that judges and support staff continue to hear urgent cases, write judgments, and complete case preparatory work, even during periods traditionally considered vacations , said the people cited above.

The court’s decision to redefine its vacation period comes amid continued criticism over judicial vacations and work schedules.

Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, during a media event in March 2023, took this criticism head on, pointing out that judges of the Indian Supreme Court sit for 200 days (about six and a half months) a year , v The Supreme Court of the United States sits for 80 days, the Supreme Court of Australia for less than 100 days, and the Supreme Courts of the United Kingdom and Singapore for 145 days. “What people don’t know is that most of the time we call vacation time is spent preparing for judgments that you have kept in reserve because you simply didn’t have time during the week where you work seven days, just to try to stay on track. in advance to process your cases,” the CJI then said.

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In May this year, a panel of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma also addressed the issue, stating that the perception of judges taking long vacations is misleading. They noted that even though the judiciary provides breaks, judges remain involved in preparing cases and often conduct proceedings for urgent cases. The exchange took place on May 22 and was triggered in part by remarks by Sanjeev Sanyal, an economic adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who suggested that the judiciary’s “long vacation” was contributing to delays in the justice system. In response, Justice Datta pointed out that delays often stem from government agencies’ failure to meet deadlines for filing appeals and petitions.

Earlier in the same month, a bench headed by Justice BR Gavai had said: “People who criticize us for having long holidays do not know that we do not have holidays on Saturday and Sunday. These days are filled with conferences and other missions… We also have time to write long judgments during the holidays.

The debate on judicial vacations continues. In August 2023, a parliamentary panel recommended ending the long judicial vacations, citing the common man’s perception of the justice system and the huge number of pending cases. Even if the committee recognized that vacations are not the only reason for the backlog of cases, it considered these ruptures as a “colonial legacy” causing inconvenience to litigants.

In 2009, the law commission recommended that vacations be reduced by at least 10 to 15 days while increasing the retirement age by at least three years. While the amendment made to the Supreme Court Rules in 2014 by CJI RM Lodha reduced the summer vacation by around three weeks, the permissible strength of the SC increased by only three judges and the age retirement rate remained stable at age 65. The Law Commission, in 1987, recommended a total of 107 judges per million by the year 2000. At the last count in 2022, this number stood at 21.

Criticism over vacancies in the highest court requires an assessment on three key criteria: the number of judges, the time needed to write detailed judgments and the schedule of other supreme courts around the world.

From an authorized strength of eight judges in 1950 to 34 today, statistics reveal that the increase in the volume of cases has far exceeded the increase in the number of judges. In 1950, the SC handled 1,215 cases and decided 525, an average of about 75 cases per judge. However, in 2019, 43,613 cases were filed and the supreme court decided 41,100 of them, an average decision of about 1,400 cases per judge.

In addition, each panel, which includes two or three judges, handles a large caseload, often hearing 50 to 60 cases per day, leaving judges with little time to consider complex questions of law and the Constitution – a job exhaustive which requires sifting through delicate questions. interpretations of the law. Judges say they spend a lot of time during their vacations researching, deliberating and writing judgments, which is an essential process to ensure that justice is delivered with clarity and precision.

Additionally, during vacations, the court clerk’s office and staff work like any other government office, and judges take turns serving on vacation courts that hear cases five days a week. These chambers not only handle urgent cases, but also new appeals and some old cases, in which lawyers have agreed to argue during the holidays.

Comparing the holiday schedules of the Supreme Court of India with those of other apex courts around the world can also provide valuable context. The Supreme Court sits on average 200 days per year, the United States Supreme Court 80 days. The Supreme Court of Australia only sits for two weeks out of the month and does not sit at all for two months. In total, it sits less than 100 days per year. Similarly, the Supreme Court of Singapore sits for approximately 145 days per year. The UK Supreme Court is one of the few supreme courts to sit for almost the same number of days as India’s highest court. In many of these jurisdictions, the apex courts deal only with constitutional cases while the Supreme Court of India acts not only as the highest constitutional court but also as the final court of appeal. This increases his workload.