Supreme Court Sanctioned Strength Raised From 34 to 38 Judges

On 17 May 2026, the President of India promulgated the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, raising the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court from 34 to 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India. The Union Cabinet had cleared the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 just days earlier, but Parliament was not in session, so the executive used the ordinance route under Article 123 of the Constitution to bring the change into effect immediately.

According to the government, adding four more judges will help the apex court deliver “speedy justice”. Data from the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) on the day of the ordinance showed about 93,966 cases pending before the Supreme Court. Soon after the ordinance, on 27 May 2026, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the elevation of four High Court Chief Justices and senior advocate V. Mohana to fill the new posts.

The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court has been raised by Parliament several times in the past — from 8 judges in 1950 to 11, 14, 18, 26, 31 and most recently 34 judges in 2019, all by amendment to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956. Article 124(1) of the Constitution allows Parliament to fix the strength by law. Critics, however, have pointed out that pendency is driven less by the number of judges and more by procedural delays, the volume of special leave petitions filed under Article 136 and the apex court’s wide original and appellate jurisdiction.

For exam aspirants, the change is a fresh data point for questions on the structure of the higher judiciary, the ordinance-making power, the role of the Collegium system in judicial appointments, and judicial pendency as a governance issue.