With nearly seven lakh cases pending before the Supreme Court, its calendar shows that the country’s apex court will remain closed for 185 days in 2026, outnumbering the 180 working days.
The closures include 104 weekend holidays, 18 public holidays, and 63 days of judicial vacation. Paradoxically, this year’s working days are slightly higher than usual because 11 public holidays fall on weekends; in other years, the shutdown is even longer.
Furthermore, unexpected government holidays or sessions suspended to mourn senior lawyers routinely extend these closures.
Despite a staggering backlog, 6,59,256 cases pending in the High Court Division and 41,551 in the Appellate Division, there is a striking lack of public debate over these extensive closures. New cases flood in daily, yet the doors remain shut for over half the year.
Speaking anonymously to TIMES of Bangladesh, a Supreme Court administration official criticised the system. “In a country crippled by backlogged cases, long vacations are a luxury. To resolve this crisis, appointing more judges is not enough; we must increase the court’s actual working days.”
Legal professionals share a growing concern over the judiciary’s extended breaks.
Senior lawyer Sarwar Ahmed noted, “There is a need for vacation in the Supreme Court. However, the existing system seems excessive and should be reduced.”
Pushing for administrative review, Mohammad Ali, Secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association, urged the Chief Justice to reconsider the current schedule.
Yet, resistance to change remains deeply entrenched.
Former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha once proposed reducing judicial vacations during a full court meeting. Remarkably, only two judges voted in favour, defeating the reformative initiative due to a lack of majority support.
Recent data highlights the scale of these breaks.
In 2023, the judicial vacation spanned 64 days, leaving the court practically closed for 35 consecutive days, only to pause again two weeks later.
In 2024, a 63-day vacation shuttered regular hearings for 45 consecutive days, whilst 2025 saw vacations rise to 66 days, halting activities for 44 straight days.
When approached for perspective, Supreme Court Registrar General Muhammad Habibur Rahman Siddiqui declined to comment.
This protracted system is a relic of the British colonial era. Historically, British judges required long sea voyages to travel to and from the subcontinent.
Extended breaks also helped them endure the intense summer heat and provided dedicated time to draft judgements, a practice that persisted through the Pakistan period into independent Bangladesh.
Justice Sinha argued that because modern judges live locally, often in official residences adjacent to the Supreme Court, this colonial-era justification is entirely obsolete.
Crucially, the courts are not legally fully closed during vacations. Both the Constitution and Supreme Court rules explicitly provide for vacation courts.
Administrative offices remain open, and the Chief Justice constitutes specific benches to hear urgent matters, ensuring the wheels of justice do not grind to a complete halt.
Consequently, the Appellate Division Chamber Court and High Court Vacation Benches operate on a limited scale, tackling urgent matters like bails and writs.
Many judges also utilise this quiet period to draft deferred judgements and conduct legal research.
Yet, routine hearings for general writs, civil appeals, corporate cases, and long-standing land disputes are effectively frozen.
Lawyers note that when courts reopen, even more time is lost reconstituting benches and managing paperwork, compounding the judicial logjam. This sluggish structure extends downstairs; subordinate courts also enjoy a month-long annual recess split across June and December.
While judicial vacations are common across South Asia and various common law jurisdictions, Bangladesh’s system remains unusually rigid.
In contrast, the Supreme Court of India caps its summer recess at seven weeks, with the Chief Justice holding sole authority over its duration. Crucially, India now rebrands this period as “partial court working days” to ensure judicial momentum is not completely lost.
Similarly, Pakistan deploys designated judges and special benches to handle urgent matters during summer and winter breaks.
Further afield, the judiciary of England and Wales appoints specific “vacation judges” across High Court divisions during recess, explicitly tasked with disposing of urgent applications without interruption.
Many lawyers argue Bangladesh needs clearer policies defining urgent vacation cases and streamlining application listings.
Highlighting the systemic toll, lawyer Mohammad Adnan Yazdani told TIMES, “Extended court limitations impact not just litigants, but the state, administration, and civil rights.”
Yazdani suggests restructuring rather than abolishing judicial vacations, proposing planned, staggered breaks. Senior lawyers agree that rotating judges’ holidays would allow normal court functions to continue seamlessly.
A number of senior lawyers emphasise that maintaining digital infrastructure, including online mentioning, e-filing, virtual hearings, and electronic court agendas, during recesses would provide vital opportunities to dispose of less complex applications and prevent the backlog from spiralling further.
