Opening Courts 365 days a year

The Chief Justice of India has said that Courts should remain open 365 days in a year. How is this possible ? Does a Judge not require some rest ? Is he not a human being with a family to look after ?
It is true that while many Judges work hard, others do not. But even a hard working Judge requires some rest and has a family.

Similarly, lawyers and registry officials, too have families to look after and, being human beings, need some rest. I am not holding a brief for Judges who do not work hard. All I am requesting is for the public to consider the situation.

The Allahabad High Court, in which I was a Judge (from 1991 to 2004) had set a norm that a Judge of the subordinate judiciary ( i.e. from Munsif upto District Judge) should have at a time not more than 300 cases before him. When I was a senior Judge in Allahabad High Court I enquired from the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar, who had come to meet me, how many cases he had in his Court alone. He replied 30,000. Similarly, I asked a judge posted in Ghaziabad how many cases he had in his court alone. He replied 21,000. Another subordinate judiciary judge told me he had 15,000 cases pending in his court alone.

This shows the plight of the judiciary. After all we are not supermen. If a man can carry a maximum load of, say, 100 pounds, and if an elephant is placed on his head, what will happen ? He will collapse. The massive load of arrears is simply too heavy for the judiciary to carry, and the filing of new cases is also huge.

To decide a case properly takes some time. After all, the Judge has to read the papers, hear arguments from both sides, think over the matter, read the law books, and then only a high quality judgment can come. It cannot come in a second by a wave of Alladin's magic lamp !

People do not know this situation and yet blame the judges for not working hard.

I again repeat, I am not holding a brief for Judges who do not work hard. Also, I am not holding a brief for corrupt Judges. While many Judges are honest, there are some who are corrupt. But how much can even an honest and hard working Judge do in the face of such massive arrears? Lawyers and registry officials too, being human beings, require some rest.

Moreover, even during vacations all courts have vacation benches to deal with urgent cases.
In U.S.A. 97% cases are disposed off by mediation, not adjudication. We too must find some alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. But asking Judges to work 365 days in a year is, with due respect to the Chief Justice of India, no solution