The lawyer community has disagreed with a suggestion by Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha to have courts functioning 365 days to clear backlog, saying it is “neither practical nor feasible” for advocates to work throughout the year without any rest.
Justice Lodha has strongly mooted a proposal to have courts open through the year, considering that 60,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court while High Courts have a backlog of over 42 lakh cases.
In a recent letter to the Chief Justices of High Courts seeking their response to his proposal, the CJI said judges should be given the choice of holidays and vacations.
In this letter, Justice Lodha compared people with legal problems with people suffering pain. He said they both “want relief and they want it as quickly and as expeditiously as possible”.
Even as he exhorted the Chief Justices of the High Courts to consult their fellow judges, he reached out to the Chairman of the Bar Council of India to discuss the proposal with State Bar Councils, Bar Associations and members of the Bar and give a report.
But the Bar Council of India (BCI), the apex lawyer body representing the interests of 17 lakh lawyers in the country, expressed its doubts, saying there is no discussion on the modalities of implementing this “idea”.
