The Supreme Court on Friday decided to cut short its summer vacation and work till June 19 for now.
Further plans on whether to continue functioning or go for a short break to facilitate the judges - who are drawn from across the country - go to their native places would be taken after June 19.
“Usually, summer vacation is the time when judges can go to their native places and spend time with their family. However, they have decided to work and clear pendency this time,” a highly placed source in the court said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The decision came on the last working day of the court - May 15. Sources said it was taken by consensus arrived at among judges through circulation. The court would continue to function through videoconferencing and may have staggered timings for the Benches to ease the load on the available videoconferencing facilities.
Chief Justice S.A. Bobde would continue to monitor the situation and seek medical advice on safety precautions. An official circular in this regard would be out in a few hours.
One of the judges has gone into self-quarantine with family after their residential cook tested COVID-19 positive.
ADVERTISEMENT
The sources said the decision was taken also after duly considering a request from the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to the judges to cancel the summer vacations in the larger interest of litigants and justice.
The SCBA, led by its president and senior advocate Dushyant Dave, has been saying that the court is losing precious time and cases involving hundreds of litigants stare at an uncertain future.
An SCBA resolution in April said lawyers were willing to work through the summer holidays - from May 16 to July 5.