The working hours of all district and taluk courts in the State have been revised with effect from January 1, 2020. The court sitting hours have been increased by 30 minutes every day to make up for the loss caused by declaration of fourth Saturdays as non-sitting days.
A notification was issued on December 30 by the Registrar-General based on a full court resolution dated December 18, 2019, of the Karnataka High Court.
The revised court sitting hours will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and from 2.45 p.m. to 5.45 p.m. with a lunch break from 2 p.m. to 2.45 p.m., instead of the existing timings from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and from 3 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. with lunch from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Meanwhile, the revised working hours for the staff of courts in districts and taluks will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with lunch break from 2 p.m. to 2.45 p.m., as per the High Court’s notification.
Though fourth Saturdays were declared holiday as per government notification of June 13, 2019, for all district and taluk courts, it was withdrawn by the government by issuing a notification on December 12. However, some lawyers’ bodies, including Advocates’ Association, Bengaluru, had opposed the cancellation.
From now, there will be no sittings of courts to hear cases in district and taluks on fourth Saturdays but the offices of these courts will work for half day and this will apply to judicial officers and staff of district and taluk courts. The judicial officers should utilise fourth Saturdays for court inspection and jail visits, which was earlier done on third Saturdays, said the notification.
