In a bid to wipe out pendency and give relief to litigants, Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha has suggested to Chief Justices of High Courts that courts function all 365 days a year.
In a recent letter to the Chief Justices of High Courts seeking their response to the proposal, he said judges should be given the choice of holidays and vacations. About 60,000 cases are pending disposal in the Supreme Court and over 42 lakh cases in High Courts.
Justice Lodha quoted Justice Warren Berger, former Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: “People with legal problems, like people with pain, want relief and they want it as quickly and as expeditiously as possible. All of us are aware of the pain of the people with legal problems.”
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Justice Lodha said he had spoken about courts working round the year during the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Rajasthan State Bar Council building at Jodhpur on May 11. “I clarified that this was not to suggest that vacations or holidays available to judges be curtailed. They should be permitted as many days of holidays and vacations as they are entitled to, but it should be whenever they choose rather than on fixed days and at fixed periods in the year. The Registry will then finalise the sittings,” he said.
The CJI has requested 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. He also requested the Chief Justices to give their views in consultation with their colleagues and further suggestions, if any, at the earliest.