"How many holidays do people want", Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti asked before turning down a request from the Supreme Court Bar Association to declare Monday a holiday on account of Ram Navami.
The apex court will, therefore, function on Monday although the Central and Delhi Governments buckled to demands and have declared a holiday on Monday.
Parliament, earlier scheduled to meet on Monday, will now meet on Tuesday. The Delhi High Court and the subordinate
Courts would also remain closed on Monday.
SCBA president P H Parekh said, "I requested the Chief Justice of India to delclare Monday a holiday as per the wishes of the Bar Association. The CJI turned down the request saying many matters have been listed and a holiday would upset the schedule for hearing of the cases."
As the advocates on Friday mentioned cases for early hearing, Chief Justice R C Lahoti said on one hand there was demand for early listing of the cases citing urgency but on the other hand there was "a lot of pressure from the Supreme
Court Bar Association to declare Monday a holiday".
Turning down the request for holiday, the CJI said one adjournment of a case due to an unscheduled holiday would
result in pushing back its hearing by at least six months.
When people were talking critically of the pendency of the cases before the courts, it was unfortunate that a request
for a holiday was being made, he said and added "how many holidays do people want. Thursday was a holiday (on account of Ambedkar Jayanti)."
On an average over 500 cases are listed before various Benches of the Supreme Court on Mondays and Fridays.