Supreme Court notifies 21 benches to sit during upcoming 'partial working days'; CJI Gavai to conduct court in summer vacations

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India B R Gavai will hold court hearings this time during summer vacations between May 26 to June 1.

This is a marked departure from practice that the senior judges -- including the Chief Justice of India -- were not supposed to hold courts hearings during summer break.

The Supreme Court issued a notification on the benches that will function during the upcoming summer vacation from May 26 to July 13. The regular functioning of the court will resume from July 14, 2025.

The court this time termed the summer vacation as "partial court working days", as there will be two to five vacation benches sitting during the period.

Earlier, there used to be only two or three vacation benches during the summer vacation.

The CJI Gavai has nominated the 21 benches to hear cases during this period.

The benches will conduct the court proceedings accordingly. They were as follows:

May 26 to June 1 (5 benches) - CJI and Justice Augustine George Masih, Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta, Justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Kumar, Justices JK Maheshwari and Aravind Kumar, Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma.

From June 2 to June 8, there will be 3 benches. They were as follows: Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma, Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and SVN Bhatti and Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Augustine George Masih.

From June 9 to June 15, two benches will conduct the court proceedings. They were; Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan and Justices SVN Bhatti and PB Varale.

From June 16 to June 22, two benches will conduct court holdings in the upcoming summer vacation. They were: Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan, Justices Sandeep Mehta and PB Varale.

There will be three benches from June 23 to June 29, for the court hearings. They were: Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh, Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and K Vinod Chandran and Justices Sandeep Mehta and Joymalya Bagchi.

Similarly, from June 30 to July 6, there will be 3 benches. They were; Justices MM Sundresh and K Vinod Chandran, Justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan and Justices Manoj Misra and N Kotiswar Singh.

From July 7 to July 13, the three benches will conduct the court proceedings. They were; Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, Justices Pankaj Mithal and KV Viswanathan, and Justices Rajesh Bindal and R Mahadevan.

During this period from May 26 to July 13, the Supreme Court Registry will remain open from 10 am to 5 pm for all officers and staff on all working days, excluding Saturdays (other than July 12, 2025), Sundays, and other holidays.