The Summer Of Justice

Judges and lawyers of the Gujarat High Court will not be holidaying this summer. The court’s acting chief justice, J.N. Bhatt, has decided to do away with this year’s summer recess to clear the backlog of cases. There are over one lakh cases pending. Instead of two vacation benches, which remain open during the five-week summer break, this year 20 of the 30 working judges will be attending court. (But vacancies created by the retirement of 10 judges have not been filled as yet.) Registrar S.G. Shah told Outlook: "As many as 90 cases were disposed of during the first two days, May 12 and 13, of the vacation. At this rate, we may be able to settle many more cases than the 600 listed for the vacation." Justice Bhatt’s move is seen as a positive step, especially when thousands of cases are kept pending for decades in the country’s courts causing ordinary people intense distress. But will the other high courts follow the Gujarat example?