The Minister of Law and Justice, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today informed that the number of working hours, working days and vacations of the courts are prescribed as per rules framed by the respective courts. The Supreme Court of India, in exercise of the powers conferred on it under Article 145 of the Constitution of India, makes rules for regulating the Court’s practice and procedures which includes its sittings and vacations, etc.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court has framed the ‘Supreme Court Rules, 2013 which was notified on 27.05.2014. Order II of Part I of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 provide for sittings of the Supreme Court, length of summer vacation and the number of holidays of the Court and also the Benches of the Hon’ble Judges during summer vacation and winter holidays. The Supreme Court Rules, 2013, inter-alia, provided that the period of summer vacation shall not exceed seven weeks and the length of the summer vacation and the number of holidays for the court and the offices of the court shall be such as may be fixed by the Chief Justice and notified in the official Gazette so as not to exceed one hundred and three days, excluding Sundays not falling in the vacation and during court holidays. The Supreme Court has been working on an average of 222 days in a year.

The Central Government has no role in fixing the minimum number of compulsory working hours and working days for courts. Further, there is no proposal at present to increase the number of working days or working hours of the Supreme Court. However, the Government is fully committed to the independence of judiciary and constantly endeavors to provide a conducive environment for judges to discharge their judicial functions smoothly.