CJ for slashing SC holidays to reduce case backlog

Saying that the Supreme Court spends six months of the year vacationing, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha yesterday stressed the need for slashing the holidays to increase the adjudication rate of cases and ease the huge backlog.

The SC enjoys at least 180 days of vacation including weekends a year, he said. The court cannot operate this way when it has more than three lakh cases pending, he added.

In South Korea, the SC enjoys only 20 days of vacation a year, said Justice Sinha, drawing on his experience of a visit to the country.

His South Korean counterpart also expressed astonishment how Bangladesh runs its judiciary when its apex court remains on vacation half of the year, he added.

The chief justice was addressing a programme on the occasion of Baishakhi Utsab (festival celebrating Bangla New Year), organised by Rajshahi University Law Alumni Association at the SC Bar Association in the capital.

Justice SK Sinha said he planned to shorten the vacation because there was no alternative.

He said he had placed a proposal to a meeting of the High Court judges for reducing the holidays, but only one of them supported him.

The chief justice said all citizens including politicians, lawyers, and judges should abide by the rule of law.

The judges will abide by the rule of law, if other citizens do, he said, adding that time had come for self-criticism.

A judge must feel what contributions he made to the country since he gets an apartment, money, and dignity, Justice Sinha said, adding that the judges had to discharge their duties in such a manner so that they did not face allegations.

The judges have to hear and dispose of cases and write and sign orders and judgments on time, he said.

Justice Sinha observed that adjudication of the bail petitions of the accused, who are in jail, is more important than hearing and clearing the bail petitions of those, who were out of prison and being searched by law enforcers.