Lawyers need their holidays! Results of the 6Q Survey on court vacations

We recently did a survey for litigating lawyers, asking whether court vacations should be reduced, or done away with completely. Taken by a total of 253 participants, we got a fair idea of what members of the Bar think of this suggestion..In addition to reduction of court holidays, the participants were also asked whether they would work through vacations and if there is any truth to the notion that pendency of cases can be brought down by reducing the number of court holidays..But first, we take a look at the profile of these respondents..1. Profile.The 253 respondents hail from 16 different states in India. Out of this, a significant number of respondents (95) practice in the capital at various forums. 23 of these lawyers practice at the Supreme Court of India..It is also interesting to note that the survey was taken not just by litigating lawyers in India. Among the respondents are a lawyer from the United Kingdom, a Senior Partner in a law firm, a Professor from a law college and a faculty of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai..2. Should court vacations be done away with?.A substantial number of survey takers believe that court vacations should stay. Only one-third of the total number of respondents believe that vacations should be done away with entirely..3. Do you think court vacations should be reduced?.While two-thirds of the respondents do not agree with putting an end to court vacations, more than half have opted for a middle ground. Around 52% believe that vacations in courts across the country should be reduced..4. Should there be an option for lawyers and judges to work through vacations?.Around 70% of the respondents believe that there should be an option to work through court vacations. That way, litigants with pressing matters can get their cases heard, while a majority of the Bench and the Bar enjoy a break..5. Would you co-operate if a judge took the initiative to work through holidays?.Recently, lawyers of the Jharkhand High Court agreed to work through the vacations to dispose of age-old criminal appeals, on a request by Chief Justice Virender Singh..And almost 70% of our respondents would gladly take a leaf out the Jharkhand High Court lawyers’ book if their judges suggested something similar..6. Will decreasing/doing away with court vacations improve pendency figures?.The idea of doing away with or reducing court vacations would not have come up unless it was suggested that there exists a co-relation between the number of working days and pendency. In fact, this was something the 230th Report of the Law Commission of India pointed out..However, our respondents do not believe so. Well, not entirely, at least. Opinion is pretty much divided on the issue of whether increasing the number of working days will alleviate pendency figures..One respondent was of the opinion that pendency can reduced by making changes to the working of the court. This involves removing local judges from courts, so that “lawyers who are not beneficiaries of uncle judges feel enthusiastic”..While that suggestion may pose problems of its own, it certainly warrants a look into other factors that contribute to pendency. Increasing the already overburdened judges’ workload by cutting down court vacations may have adverse consequences..Going by these figures, it does not seem that bar associations across the country will wholeheartedly accept the Bar Council of India’s recent notification appealing to lawyers to work through the vacations..At the same time, the lawyers are not completely averse to the idea. This can be seen by the number of lawyers who are willing to do so, as and when called upon.