Reportedly amidst the substantial caseload before the calcutta high court, a proposal has surfaced to revoke the seven-day holiday between lakshmi Puja and kali Puja in 2025, specifically on october 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. With the objective of achieving 222 working days annually, this decision was put forth by the four judge Special Committee on high court Holidays, comprising Justice Harish Tandon, Justice Soumen Sen, Justice Jaimalya Bagchi, and Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty.
As per latest report the high court calendar for 2025 schedules 212 working days; the committee’s proposition aims to increase this by an additional seven days. The proposal has elicited mixed responses from legal circles. While one association of high court lawyers expressed support, two other organisations have voiced their objections. The Union Ministry of Law and Justice has issued guidelines stating that High Courts will have a minimum of 222 working days in a year to reduce the number of pending cases in the country. This suggests that High Courts have to be fully operational for 222 days.
Moreover the high court Bar Association and Bar Library objected to cancelling holidays during the Puja period. They argue that the problem can be solved only by increasing the number of judges in the calcutta High Court. There are supposed to be 72 judges in the high court, a number that has not been reached in a long time. Another organisation, the ‘Corporate Law Society’, agreed to extend the working days by 7. According to the rules, the full calendar of the high court is prepared in accordance with the decision taken by the full bench of the High Court.
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