The Supreme Court on Wednesday took strong exception to recent diatribes about its vacations and the working hours of judges.

A Vacation Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma seemingly expressed its angst at a recent remark by economist Sanjeev Sanyal, who reportedly said that judges in India work only for a few hours and go on long vacations.

"Very unfortunately, despite efforts being put in by judges it is said that judges work for very few hours. Those who say all this are part of governance; not one matter filed by Union (government) etc is filed within limitation. Every case has a condonation of delay application. All who castigate judiciary must take note of this. We burn the midnight oil even during the vacations," Justice Datta said.

The Central government's second senior law officer, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was present in court at the time, agreed with the Bench's remark.

Mehta said that the Supreme Court is the apex institution with the longest and most strenuous working hours.

Senior Advocate and Supreme Court Bar Association president Kapil Sibal weighed in, saying that the top court is amongst the most overworked courts.

The brief exchange happened after the Bench refused to entertain a plea by jailed former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren challenging his arrest in a money-laundering case.

Another Bench of the Supreme Court had recently remarked that those who criticise court vacations do not realise that judges do not even get to enjoy weekends.

The Court had opined that vacations offer much needed time to draft lengthy judgments.