There is a debate going on these days as to the number of holidays in our courts in an year. The former Union Law Minister of India Kiren Rijiju sparked a debate regarding the court vacations after he criticised the long court vacations in India. The general perception among the people of the country is that our courts avail a lot of holidays right throughout the year. However this is not the complete truth.
Recently, the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India said that the Supreme Court of India sits around 200 days in an year as compared to the American Supreme Court which sits 80 days in an year and the Australian Supreme Court which sits around 100 days in an year. The High Courts of our country sit for around 210 days in an year whereas the trial Courts work for around 245 days in an year.
It is important for the people of the country to know that at least the trial courts in India, if not the Hon’ble High Courts or the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, sit for 365 days in an year. Be it a national holiday or a sunday or the summer or winter vacation or a pandemic, the trial courts of the country do not stop working. Every single day of the year, at least one judge sits in every judical complex for urgent and important cases. The same is known as Duty Judge/ Duty Magistrate/Vacation Judge. Different magistrates are assigned the duty of Duty Magistrates rotationally. The Vacations benches of the High Courts or the Supreme Court of India is the prerogative of the Chief Justice of the High Courts or the Hon’ble Supreme Court, as the case may be.
The urgent matters include bail applications, injunction applications, remand orders, or any other relief which the court deems urgent in nature.
Through this article, we intend to give a clear picture of the true facts regarding the court vacations.
This article is written by Adv. Pranav. He practises in the Courts of Haryana and Delhi primarily. For feedback relating to this article, please email at pranavdefends@gmail.com or nyayconnection@gmail.com
