Court work is usually judged by the number of judges, pending cases, buildings, and staff. But a better way to understand it is to look at how much actual working time the court has.
A study of the 2026 calendar of the Patna High Court shows that the 365-day year gives far fewer working days than it appears.
Out of 365 days, 52 Sundays and 12 second Saturdays are non-working days. This brings it down to 301 days. Court holidays and vacations take another 82 days, reducing it to 219 days. After adjusting for holidays that fall on weekends, the real working days come to about 229 days. After including half working days and other interruptions, including ceremonial and institutional references, this reduces further to approximately 216 full working days.
The court does not function for the full day in a strict sense. With working hours from 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and time lost in breaks, procedures, and listing of cases, the actual effective working time is around five hours per day. This comes to about 1,080 working hours in a year.
This should not be compared with the full 8,760 hours in a year, because courts do not run continuously. But even within normal working limits, the time available for hearing cases remains limited.
This limited time also exists alongside scarce funds. The State of Bihar spends about ₹2,000 crore every year on the justice system, out of a total budget of about ₹3.5 lakh crore, which is around 0.6%. In comparison, police expenditure is about 4.4%.
In such a system, delay is not random. It builds up over time. It happens because there is less time, less money, and more cases coming in. Because of this, the justice system depends not just on structure, but on the actual availability of working time.
Things like responsibility, speed, and trust in the system are not just ideas. They are necessary for maintaining public faith in the justice system.
Ultimately, Justice must be manifest.
No comments:
Post a Comment