Delhi High Court rolls back decision to work on Saturdays; committee to re-examine

The Delhi High Court has deferred the implementation of its earlier decision declaring the first and third Saturdays of every month as working days.

According to a notification issued by the High Court on Friday, the full court of the High Court met on July 9 and decided to defer operation of its earlier decision declaring the first and third Saturdays of every month as working days.

A committee will be constituted by the Chief Justice which shall look into this matter, the notification said.

The High Court had issued a notification on January 15 stating that the first and third Saturdays of every month would be official court sitting days. The decision marked a departure from the earlier practice where Saturdays were generally holidays, except in limited circumstances.

However, the move faced stiff opposition from the DHCBA, which decided to boycott the Court proceedings starting April 4.

The issue of Saturday sittings has been a point of friction between the Bar and the Bench for several months. In October 2025, the High Court had introduced an arrangement requiring each Bench to sit on one Saturday every month to expedite case disposal. 

The DHCBA had objected to the move, saying that the Bar was not consulted before the decision was taken and warning that it would create logistical difficulties for lawyers.

A Bar & Bench survey conducted in February 2026 also reflected significant opposition within the legal community to the idea of working Saturdays in High Courts. 

The survey, which saw 853 respondents, found that 70.8% opposed introducing two working Saturdays a month, while only 29.2% supported the proposal. 

A majority of respondents (69.5%) also said that increasing the number of court working days would not meaningfully reduce case pendency. 84.6% felt that the move would negatively affect the work–life balance of advocates, court staff and judges. 

Most participants instead identified increasing judicial strength and filling vacancies as more effective ways to address case backlog.

[Read notification]