Abolition of vacation in judiciary

To,  

Hon'ble Shri Jagdish Singh Khehar Sb,
Chief Justice of India,

Jhabua Dated 19th April 2017
Supreme Court, New Delhi.

Sub: Reg. Abolition of Summer & Winter Vacation & Adoption of five days work week culture in the judicial system and formation of common judicial calendar for all courts in India.

Honourable Sir, your grave concern and constant efforts to develop the work culture at all the levels of judicial functionary are largely appreciated by all the sections of the society. As the matter of fact, your promptness and decision making ability is really a source of inspiration for the young generation.

Large section of populace highly appreciated your recent decision to hear the Triple Talak & Halala case during vacation and your command to the judges to work for five days in the ensuing vacation in order to dispose of at least five pending cases per Judge is commendable.

Presently our Supreme Court enjoy 53 days Summer & 15 days besides 29 days festival holidays & 53 Sundays at the cost of public exchequer.

At this juncture, I would take liberty to request you to consider as to why we should continue outdated system of summer & winter vacation in Courts  introduced by foreign Rulers  in a slave Country for their pleasure  & enjoyment at the cost poor masses and abolish it immediately and adopt five days work week

Your honour is well aware that in most developed nations of the world, a five-day working week is being followed with a two-day weekend, which is motivated by the design to improve work efficiency.

In the current setup the advocates practising at Metro & mofussill  level do not get even single holiday, as Sundays are normally occupied for consultations, and visits from outstation clients. While one or two Saturdays which were declared Non-Working in some of the High Courts and subordinate courts often do not coincide with the general administration. The current six days work week involves a 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM workday, with a self enjoyed one hour lunch break instead of allowed 30 minutes. This amounts to a work of 36 hrs/week. As the working day begins closer to the lunch hour, the pre-lunch session is short, and largely wasted. Thus, the effective working day is further shortened. Further, it is well known that the human productivity is the highest in early morning hours, and since those hours are spent idling, a valuable high productivity period is lost.

The current six days work week allows only a one day weekend. As our society and civil development advances the demand for adequate family time has increased. There are several activities related to children's education and development, and parental participation and support is imperative. Further, there has been a growing realization that individuals must contribute to societal development by volunteering in social services. A one-day weekend proves to be inadequate to meet all these obligations, and often these activities are pushed into the work week. The need to accomplish these additional activities during the work day causes undue stress, reduces effective work duration, and results in loss of productivity.

The Judicial services are crucial for a democratic nation to sustain. From Metro cities to the remote areas Judicial services are required, and the poor people from far flung areas travel to the district or tehsil headquarter for availing of judicial services in the early hours. A late start of the working day implies that the judicial employees would not have adequate preparation time before they can avail themselves to the general public. This is further loss of productivity in that these working and highly productive people are idling, waiting for their grievances to be heard.

In this day and age of Global warming where the emphasis is shifting towards the 3R-s of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, a six day work week implies excess use of energy for lighting, heating/cooling offices for six days. Late start in the day also implies that in winter the early morning sunlight is wasted and requires excessive energy to light the offices during late evening hours. In summer, on the other hand, late morning start implies the cool morning work hours are lost, requiring excessive energy for cooling during late afternoon and evening. A six-day work week also implies additional fuel consumption for commute of the employees to their work place. Overall consequence is an increased Carbon footprint and lost efficiency.

A five day work week involves a 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM workday, with a one hour lunch break. This amounts to a 35 hour of work per week, and an overall average of 140 hr of work per month. This itself adds an additional 8 hours of work time each month, and also gives a 2 full day weekend to the employees which in return provide efficient working during five working days. Most of the developed and developing world now follows a five day work week. The central Govt. of India and most private enterprises are following a five day work week. There has been a demonstrable improvement in productivity and employee satisfaction.

Moreover Hon'ble Judges will also get additional time to study and intensive consideration in the judicial issues coming before them and ultimately serve the cause of justice in a better way by  adoption of 5 days work week.

Sir there is one more point on which I would like to point your attention and that is formation of common judicial calendar for all courts of India. With due respect sir, there is a state of confusion lies within the general public because of difference in the calendar of Supreme Court, High Courts and District Courts .and Calendar of various State Governments.

Also there is a difference in the administrative calendar and the judicial calendar too, People from remote areas travel to the district administration with the expectation that they will be able to receive judicial services as well, so the adoption of five-day work week and a common judicial calendar made with the consultation of the executive branches would eliminate this confusion and would improve access to judicial services to the populace.

The common judicial calendar will also give a strong message of unification of our country as all the courts of India are following the same calendar         

In the past I had submitted a proposal regarding this topic to the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court Shri Patnaik sb., And on my suggestion and strong advocacy to the chief justice of Madhya Pradesh, the Judiciary in MP has declared 2nd and 3rd Saturday as non working. Which was indeed a progressive and welcoming step, But because of ‘If's & Buts' added in this decision of chief justice, this step has lost its meaning over the time. So I humbly request you to take the considerate step of firmly applying the five day work week.

I hope your honour would consider these arguments carefully, and take immediate necessary steps to abolish Summer & Winter vacation system promulgate a five-day working throughout the country, which would help in improving the efficiency and quality of Judicial System of our country.