183 days of court vacation amid 4.8 million pending cases at supreme court

There are 365 days in a year. In 2026, however, the Appellate Division and High Court Division of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court will remain closed for 183 days. This means regular judicial proceedings at the country’s highest court will remain suspended for more than half the year. In contrast, the court will remain open for only 182 days.

An analysis of the Supreme Court’s 2026 calendar shows that the court will observe 104 days of weekly holidays on Fridays and Saturdays. In addition, there will be 63 days of court vacations designated by the Supreme Court itself and 16 days of government-declared holidays. This brings the total number of days without regular judicial proceedings to 183. Apart from these scheduled holidays, court proceedings are occasionally suspended following the death of senior lawyers.

With hundreds of thousands of cases pending at the country’s highest court, the practice of suspending regular judicial proceedings for nearly half the year has once again come under scrutiny. The debate has particularly intensified over the lengthy vacation period designated by the Supreme Court itself. While the need for vacations is justified on the grounds that judges require time to write pending judgments and complete other judicial work, there are growing calls to reconsider the length of the holidays to reduce the backlog of cases.

Some legal experts believe court vacations are essential for judges to write judgments, conduct research and complete accumulated judicial work. However, another group has questioned whether such lengthy vacations are justified for these purposes. They argue that although the stated objective of vacations is to allow judges to complete pending judgments and advance judicial work, it is necessary to review whether all judges actually use this time for such purposes. There are allegations that some judges travel abroad during court vacations.

It is learned that the court vacation period was 64 days in 2023. Although it was set at 63 days in 2024, the period increased to 66 days in 2025. However, it was reduced to 63 days again in 2026.

The lengthy vacations are having a significant impact on judicial proceedings. As of June 30, 2026, a total of 4,855,495 cases were pending across Bangladesh. Of these, 674,767 were pending in the High Court Division and 38,651 in the Appellate Division. The remaining cases were pending in the lower courts.

Amid this enormous backlog, an average of 63 or 64 days of annual court vacations is creating further challenges. Lawyers, people associated with the judiciary and even officials within the Supreme Court administration are questioning how far the existing vacation system is compatible with current realities.