President gives assent to law increasing number of Supreme Court judges from 33 to 37

President of India Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2026, which increases the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court from 34 to 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India.

The legislation received presidential assent on August 11 and has been notified in the Gazette of India.

The law will be deemed to have come into force on May 16, 2026, when the President had promulgated the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026. The Act repeals that Ordinance while protecting all actions already taken under it

The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal on July 20. The Lower House passed it on August 3, following which the Rajya Sabha considered and returned it on August 5. It was certified as a money bill under Article 110 of the Constitution.

During the discussion in parliament, Meghwal revealed that Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 11 seeking an increase in the Court’s sanctioned strength.

The CJI had reportedly pointed to the growing inflow of cases and the difficulty in maintaining the Court’s disposal rate when judges are assigned to Constitution Benches. The recently constituted nine-judge Bench hearing the Sabarimala reference was cited as an example.

According to the government, over 92,000 cases were pending before the Supreme Court as of January 1, 2026. During 2025, the Court received 75,410 fresh matters but disposed of a little over 65,000 cases. The government said that the increase in strength would improve judicial capacity, facilitate the constitution of larger Benches and help reduce the backlog.

This is the first increase in the Supreme Court’s sanctioned strength since 2019, when parliament raised the number of judges other than the CJI from 30 to 33. The Court began functioning in 1950 with eight judges, including the CJI. Its strength was subsequently increased to 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978, 26 in 1986 and 31 in 2009.

The Supreme Court currently has three vacancies, with 35 judges serving against its sanctioned strength of 38, including the Chief Justice of India.

[Read Notification]