Recently the Chief Justice of India has decided to cancel the long-standing practice of summer breaks in the Supreme Court, just days before he is set to retire from his position. He confirmed that now there would only be "partial court working days".

Summer breaks are typically a time when courts have reduced working hours or are closed for a period. By cancelling this break, the Chief Justice has signalled a change to the schedule, possibly to clear pending cases or make judicial processes more efficient before his retirement.

The new rules came into force immediately, and state that partial working days will start on May 26, 2025, and full working days will resume on July 14, 2025.

The Supreme Court will now have two working terms each year. The first term starts with partial working days, which will continue until the day before the winter break begins. The second term will start after the end of the winter holiday.

However, the duration of partial working days will be decided by the Chief Justice, who will be responsible for appointing one or more judges to hear the cases during this period.

The judges will handle all admission matters, after-notice cases, regular cases, and urgent matters. Chief Justice Chandrachud, who took office on November 9, 2022, will retire on November 10 after which Justice Sanjiv Khanna, currently the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, will succeed him as the 51st Chief Justice of India, starting November 11. He also has been the former judge of the Delhi High Court.