The Delhi High Court Bar Association’s boycott of working Saturdays disrupted court functioning, leading to widespread adjournments. Despite an extensive cause list, several benches did not assemble, and matters were deferred as lawyers abstained from attending hearings.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Bar Association’s (DHCBA) boycott of working Saturdays at the High Court disrupted hearings today, with the majority of matters adjourned because lawyers did not attend.
The High Court had published a 141‑page main cause list along with a supplementary list, showing at least two dozen benches scheduled to sit. However, when court began, many benches including the one headed by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhayaya did not assemble. Those judges who did hear matters generally granted adjournments after proxy counsel sought deferments.
In a matter before Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, DHCBA President and senior advocate N Hariharan was slated to appear. On being told this, Justice Bhambhani remarked in a lighter vein that he hoped Hariharan would turn up.
In another hearing, when a lawyer asked Justice Bhambhani for a short date, the judge quipped that he would list it on the next working Saturday.
Hariharan said the Bar will persist with its Saturday abstention.
He added,
“I am sure that the judiciary will respond ultimately. It is not that all High Courts work on Saturdays; most do not. Also, it is not as if lawyers and judges don’t work on Saturday. Administrative work is done by judges on Saturday. Lawyers also do arbitration or trial court work. Also, it is a day when lawyers organise for the next week and deal with their clients,”
Saturday sittings have been a sticking point between the Bar and the Bench for months. In October 2025, the High Court implemented a system requiring each bench to sit one Saturday every month to speed up case disposal. The DHCBA immediately objected, saying it had not been consulted and warning the change would create logistical problems for lawyers.
A survey in February 2026 captured broad resistance in the profession: among 853 respondents, 70.8% opposed introducing two working Saturdays a month, while 29.2% supported it. Most respondents (69.5%) believed more court days would not significantly cut pendency, and 84.6% felt the change would harm the work–life balance of advocates, court staff and judges.
On April 2, the DHCBA adopted a resolution to abstain from work on the first and third Saturdays of each month in protest against the Delhi High Court’s designation of those days as regular sitting days. The decision followed several representations requesting reconsideration of the Saturday-sittings directive that went unanswered by the Court.
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