Author: Bibek Debroy & Aditya Sinha
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 30, 2022
URL:      https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/vacation-pe-vacation/articleshow/94567295.cms

No major country has their top court going on long holidays. Neither should Supreme Court

In an earlier piece (Status And Status Quo, August 26), we mentioned the 1958 statute, on salaries and service conditions of Supreme Court judges. This speaks of leave a judge is entitled to and also mentions how leave can be spliced with vacations.

What is a vacation? It reminds us of summer and winter vacations as students. Former CJI Ramana delivered the Justice SB Sinha Memorial Lecture on “Life of a Judge” in July 2022. His words struck a chord in all those who work hard. “Sometimes, we miss out on important family events. At times, I wonder if my grandchildren would recognise me at all after failing to see them for days together.”
Excessive work is not only bad for family relationships, but it also adversely affects productivity. Therefore, many organisations mandatorily require employees to take annual leave. But there is a difference between (1) individual leave; and (2) vacation, where everyone in the organisation goes on leave.

Vacation has same etymological root as “vacate”. During that period, the organisation is vacated, so to speak. It shuts down. Rare is the organisation, outside of courts, collectively vacated in this way, though individuals take leave, rightly so. Even in educational institutions, students have vacations, but teachers no longer do, not in the vacating sense.

Who decides vacations for SC? (There are separate provisions for High Courts). That 1958 statute tells us, “vacation means such period or periods during a year as may be fixed as vacation by or under SC rules made with the prior approval of the President.”

This means Supreme Court Rules, 2013 and latest notification (16th May 2022). This says, “The Chief Justice of India has directed that the Supreme Court will be closed for the annual Summer Vacation from Monday, the 23rd May, 2022 to Sunday, the 10th July, 2022 (both days inclusive).”
Yes, there are vacation benches and yes, summer vacation has been shortened. But is this a school that there should be summer vacation? As with much else, the roots are colonial, since much of Constitution is based on the Government of India Act, 1935. This provided for a Federal Court, which metamorphosed into SC.

Citizens may be ignorant of overwhelming work burdens faced by judges. But Justice Malimath must have known and he chaired a Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice System (2003). This had a section on court vacations and it should be quoted, because it is hard-hitting and an insider’s critique.
“None of the governmental organisations in the country have vacations except the courts and the educational institutions. Educational institutions where the children are educated stand altogether on a different footing…. In this context it is necessary to know that in most of the countries in the world the courts do not have any vacations. The judges from the courts in France and USA who interacted with the committee told us that their courts have no vacations and that the judges can take leave according to their convenience without affecting the smooth functioning of the courts. What is the special justification for the courts in India to have this unique privilege of vacations?... Even in India the subordinate criminal courts do not have any vacation. But the subordinate civil courts, High Courts and the Supreme Court have vacations. It appears that vacation for the courts is a legacy of colonial rulers. Most of the higher courts were presided by judges hailing from England. That was the time when the pressure of work in courts was not so great. Besides as rulers they were not very much concerned about the problem of delay in disposal of cases. Englishmen coming from a cold country were finding summer in India unbearable. Therefore the vacation was evolved as an arrangement to enable them to go to England during summer and spend their time comfortably there. That was the time when travel was required to be made by sea which occupied several weeks. This appears to be the real reason for the introduction of vacations for courts in India.”

Posh is presumed, without evidence, to stand for ‘port out, starboard home’, referring to ships. Posh colonial judges required one month by ship to go home, one month to return, and one month to enjoy cooler climes. SC judges no longer need be posh.

There have been PILs and RTIs on the practice. As CJI, in 2014, Justice Lodha sought to eliminate vacations. As CJI, in 2016, Justice Thakur appealed to HCs, though not to SC. As CJ of Allahabad High Court, Justice Chandrachud voluntarily gave up summer vacation.

Summer vacation is the most obvious, but a similar argument holds for Christmas and Dussehra Holidays. Reduction in duration, as recommended by Arrears Committee and 230th Report of Law Commission, isn’t the point.

There shouldn’t be vacations. Nor should there be that many holidays, but that’s a general malaise, not specific to SC and HCs alone.

With a new CJI, SC will no longer be a “tareekh pe tareekh” court. However, we should also vacate vacations and fix days of annual leave (earned leave, casual leave) a judge is entitled to, so that their grandchildren do not fail to recognise them.

Bibek Debroy is Chairman and Aditya Sinha is Additional Private Secretary (Research) of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister