The Union Cabinet on Tuesday cleared a proposal to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at present, the apex court has 33 judges and the CJI. A Bill will be brought in the next session of Parliament to raise this strength by four. Once it is cleared by Parliament, the number of Supreme Court judges will stand at 38, including the CJI.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act 1956, as originally enacted, provided for the maximum number of judges (excluding the Chief Justice of India) to be 10. This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986 augmented the strength of the Supreme Court judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI. Subsequently, a fresh amendment in 2009 further augmented the strength of top court judges from 25 to 30.
The strength of the Supreme Court of India was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the Chief Justice of India) by further amending the original act vide The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2019.
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