Winter Vacation But Court in Session: CJI Surya Kant Announces Special Sitting on Dec 22 for Urgent Matters
CJI Surya Kant announced a special vacation sitting of the Supreme Court on December 22 to hear genuinely urgent matters during the winter break
The Supreme Court will hold a special vacation sitting on December 22 to hear urgent cases, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said on Friday, as the Court closed for its winter break.
The CJI clarified that the decision on whether one or more benches would sit on December 22 would depend on the number of genuinely urgent matters received. Regular court sittings will resume on January 5, 2025.
The observations were made during oral mentioning of cases by lawyers seeking urgent listing on the last working day before the winter vacation.
The Chief Justice made it clear that no fresh matters would be listed for hearing on Friday itself, citing the heavy workload already borne by judges.
“There has been massive filing this week. The hon’ble judges have spent the entire night reading briefs. I am not going to ask them to read a new brief today,” the CJI said, refusing to permit same-day listings.
When a counsel pressed for urgent listing, the CJI responded pointedly, asking whether those seeking listing were prepared to argue the matters during the vacation. “All those who are in the queue seeking listing, will you argue on Monday? We are ready to sit on Monday,” he said.
Emphasising that urgency would be strictly scrutinised, the Chief Justice stated that matters would be listed on December 22 only if counsels were willing to argue them on that day. “Wherever you give an urgent memo, we will find out if there is an actual urgency and list on Monday. The only condition is that you will have to argue on Monday,” he told the Bar.
Addressing mentions relating to child custody disputes, bail pleas and requests for protection from arrest, the CJI said the Registry would first assess whether real urgency existed. “If it is found that there is genuine urgency, interim bail or custody issue, then we will list the matter on December 22,” he said, adding that the number of benches would be decided after assessing the volume of such cases.
The Chief Justice also recalled his remarks made a day earlier, on December 18, when he had indicated the possibility of a vacation sitting. “If you are willing to come on Monday, December 22, I will persuade one of the Judges to sit with me during the Winter Vacation,” he had said while hearing oral mentions.
During Friday’s proceedings, the CJI reiterated that matters could not be listed the very next day and asked counsels to file urgency letters along with an undertaking that they would argue the case if listed during the vacation.
The Court noted that while the winter vacation formally begins on Friday, December 19, urgent matters are still maintainable during the break.
However, after briefly perusing several matters mentioned for urgent listing on December 18, the Bench had observed that many of them did not disclose any pressing urgency.
“These matters can wait till January or even April 2026,” the Court had remarked, signalling a firm approach against routine mentions being dressed up as urgent pleas.
Bench: CJI Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi
Mentioning Date: December 19, 2025