Supreme Court changes its working hours

About

The Supreme Court of India is the protector of the constitution. It is the final court of appeal and the highest court in the country.

It comprises of 34 judges (33 judges + Chief justice of India) and safeguards the fundamental rights of the citizens of India.

It derives its powers from Part – V, chapter – IV, article 124 - 147 of the constitution of India replacing the federal court of justice on January 28th 1950 as the highest judicial body of the country.

Recently the Supreme Court of India under the Supreme Court (Amendment) rules 2025 in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) under G.S.R 385 (E) reaffirmed its working hours from 10AM to 5PM on weekdays with no work unless urgent in nature to be accepted after 4:30 PM and 10AM to 1PM on Saturday with no work unless urgent in nature to be accepted after 12:00 noon and also brought back 2nd and 4th Saturday back into the list of working days for the Apex Court registry and offices.

Except on the days which are holidays both for the Court and the offices of the Court, the offices of the Court shall be open during partial Court working days and Christmas and New Year holidays of the Court at such times as the Chief Justice may direct.

The changed rules fall under order – II, Rules 1 to 3 of the Supreme Court rules

The Amendment was made under the powers granted to the Supreme Court under article 145 with assent from the president of India.

Historical changes

Historically the Supreme Court of India has long followed the 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM working hours on working days (with only urgent filings after 4:30 PM) and 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM on Saturdays (with only urgent filings after 12:00 PM).

These timings codified in the Supreme Court rules 1966 have remained unchanged for decades

Notably in 2014 the then CJI R.M.Lodha proposed a 365 days working court with judges declaring their vacations in advance to reduce the backlog of cases.

Over the time CJI R.M.Lodha trimmed the summer vacations of courts by 3 weeks.

In 2024 the Supreme Court redefined summer vacations as partial working days due to the criticism it received for the 7 weeks summer vacations highlighting that some benches continue to work even during the summer recess

It also replaces the term vacation Judge with simply ‘judge’ effective from 2025.

This comes in during a time where the schedule of the Supreme Court is under intense public scrutiny  

The former CJI D.Y. Chandrachud has repeatedly emphasized that the judges of the Supreme Court of India work on an average of 200 days which is more than the 80 days of the US Supreme Court and 145 days of the Supreme Courts of UK and Singapore. He also iterated that during these vacations the judges formulate various judgements which had been kept in reserve by them due to lack of time during the work week.

Thus the newly notified changes in the working hours of the Supreme Court reflects the courts resolve to strengthen its administrative reforms to improve efficiency and clarity in the judicial process.

By Kisna Chaudhary(NALSAR)