The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 is a legislative Bill introduced in Parliament to amend the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956. The original 1956 Act was created to allow Parliament to determine the maximum number of judges, as empowered by Article 124(1) of the Constitution, which initially provided for the Chief Justice of India and not more than seven other judges. The primary reason for the Bill is to address the mounting case pendency, which stood at over 92,000 cases as of January 1, 2026, and to enable the Supreme Court to function more efficiently.
The key mechanism of the 2026 Bill is the amendment of Section 2 of the 1956 Act. This provision increases the sanctioned strength of Supreme Court judges (excluding the Chief Justice of India) from 33 to 37, thereby making the total strength, including the CJI, 38 judges. The Bill seeks to replace the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, which was promulgated in May 2026.
This legislation is directly connected to the parent Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, and the constitutional mandate under Article 124(1). The strength was last increased in 2019 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2019, which had raised the number of judges (excluding the CJI) from 30 to 33. The 2026 Bill continues this trend of increasing judicial capacity to expedite the disposal of cases.