- Sanjeev Sanyal calls the judiciary the biggest hurdle to India's Viksit Bharat dream
- Supreme Court Bar Association President Vikas Singh condemns his criticism
- Singh explains court vacations are for judges and lawyers to manage heavy workloads
The criticism of the judiciary by a key member of the Economic Advisery Council to the Prime Minister has triggered a controversy yet again. Sanjeev Sanyal's remarks that the judiciary is the "biggest hurdle" to the country's dream of becoming Viksit Bharat has drawn strong observations from Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President and Senior Advocate Vikas Singh.
Sanyal had criticised long vacations in higher courts while speaking at the General Counsels' Association of India's Nyaya Nirmaan 2025, a forum bustling with ministers, judges and industry leaders convened to discuss the future of India's legal foundations.
Singh rejected Sanyal's comment as "irresponsible" and "made in bad taste". Such observations betray a lack of understanding of how courts function, he asserted.
"Anybody making a comment on the vacations of the higher court is completely lacking in understanding of how these higher courts function. These vacations are not meant to be a period when you do nothing and waste court time. To understand the concept of vacation in the higher court, you should understand the kind of work that a busy lawyer or a judge does in the normal times," said Singh.
He said that anybody making such remarks is being insensitive to the way the judiciary functions.
Sanyal had also criticised the use of words like "prayer" and "My Lord" in the legal parlance and said that it prevented the legal system from being forward-looking. Such usage are only a part of the legacy and a habit formed over years, Singh argued while agreeing that it needs to be done away with.
This is not the first time Sanyal had spoken up against the vacations. Last year, the economist had courted controversy after calling for urgent reforms over long vacations in the judiciary.
During Chief Justice DY Chandrachud's tenure, the top court had introduced the concept of partial working days, effectively renaming the vacations.
