The Lok Sabha today passed without debate the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, which seeks to increase the strength of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The Bill was moved in the post-lunch session by Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal. The Minister said that the Bill has been brought keeping in view the pendency of cases before the Supreme Court and to improve the efficiency of the Court.
The Bill was introduced by Meghwal in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament on July 20. It seeks to replace the ordinance which increased the number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38 including the Chief Justice of India.
For context, the President of India had, in May, promulgated an Ordinance to increase the number of Supreme Court Judges from 33 to 37, excluding the Chief Justice of India. Pursuant to this the Supreme Court now has a sanctioned strength of 38 judges, including the CJI. The present working strength of the Supreme Court is 32 (including the CJI).
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance 2026 was promulgated to amend Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to replace the word “33” therein with “37”.
As per Article 124 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court comprises the Chief Justice of India and the number of Judges which the Parliament prescribes by way of law.
On May 5, the Union Cabinet cleared the proposal to increase the strength of Supreme Court Judges. The last time the number of Supreme Court Judges was increased was in 2019, when it was raised to from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI).
The proposed bill does not require an amendment to the Constitution and requires a simple majority for passage.
The Lok Sabha proceedings can be viewed at this link.
