‘24 hours courts’: SC announces three-month summer vacation

The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a circular for a three-month summer vacation from June 13 to September 13 just after the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial’s remarks about the courts’ functionality for 24 hours.

CJP Justice Umar Ata Bandial, while hearing a presidential reference seeking interpretation of Article 63A of the Constitution of Pakistan yesterday, remarked that the courts work for 24 hours and no one needs to point a finger at the judiciary.

He was responding to former prime minister Imran Khan’s question regarding the opening of the SC at midnight on April 9 prior to his ouster from his office following a successful no-trust motion.

24 hours courts: Will SC prioritise inquiry of ‘threat letter’?

In the latest circular, the Supreme Court (SC) notified the three-month summer vacation from June to September. It may be noted here that the high courts and the apex court also observe winter vacation annually.

Two-week winter vacations

The Supreme Court had observed a two-week winter vacation last year from December 18 to January 2.

Reasons for six-month vacations

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a schedule of gazette holidays which showed that 13 vacations will be observed this year.

According to the schedule, the high court will observe 13 holidays on important national days and festivals, 16 as winter vacations and three months as summer vacations excluding 52 off-days on Sundays and other leaves of the judges. The total count of the vacations stands at more than six months annually.

Over 50,000 pending cases

In February, CJP Justice Umar Ata Bandial said in an event that 10 judges had heard the case against Justice Qazi Faez Isa for 17 months which increased the burden of 42,000 pending cases in December 2019 to 50,000 in April 2021 in the Supreme Court (SC).

According to the records, the number of pending cases was 40,481 during former CJP Saqib Nisar’s tenure in January 2019.

The pending cases were increased up to 5,000 at the time of the retirement of former CJP Justice Asif Saeed Khosa in December 2019, however, he winded up several criminal cases. During ex-CJP Gulzar Ahmed’s tenure, the pending cases were 45,275 when he took oath on December 20, 2019.

2020 and 2021 affected the court proceedings due to the coronavirus pandemic, whereas, the hearing of Justice Qazi Faez Isa by a larger bench also increased the burden on the apex court. The court records of January 2022 showed that the pending cases were increased from 53,000 to 53,575 which is the highest number in the history of the apex court.

Public circles raise question

Many public circles raised questions over the months-long vacations of the courts despite a huge burden of pending cases, whereas, such ‘facilities’ were not given to the court employees in other countries.

The long vacations are creating hurdles in providing justice to the nationals.

Duty judges during vacation

Legal experts said that duty judges were present in the courts for hearing the important cases during the vacation period.

Beginning of court vacations

Historians and legal experts said that British officers in South Asia had introduced summer vacations to spend time with their families in Britain or visiting any tourist spot due to extremely hot weather conditions.