Center strengthens Supreme Court: Number of judges to increase from 33 to 37

New Delhi: The central government in a meeting on Tuesday approved increasing the number of judges from 33 to 37 (excluding the Chief Justice of India) from 31 six years ago.The government said the move was aimed at strengthening Supreme Courtaimed at ensuring faster justice as more than 92,000 cases are pending before the Supreme Court.The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi approved the proposal to submit the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, to Parliament to amend the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 to increase the number of judges.There is no constitutional limit on the size of the Supreme Court. Article 124(1) provides for the Chief Justice of India and allows Parliament to fix the number of other judges by legislation.The figure is revised regularly to keep pace with growing case numbers. The first such change was the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, which fixed the number of judges, excluding the Chief Justice, at 10. This was subsequently increased to 13 in 1960 and to 17 in 1977. Nonetheless, the upper limit on the number of staff remained at 15 for some time until 1979, when this limit was lifted at the request of the Chief Justice.Over the decades, further expansion followed. The number of approved persons increased to 25 in 1986 and to 30 in 2008. The most recent revision was in 2019, when Parliament increased the number of judges from 30 to 33, excluding the Chief Justice of India.These cyclical increases reflect the courts’ attempts to align court capacity with a steadily growing backlog, although questions remain about whether expanding the bench alone can address delays in the delivery of justice.