{"id":12791,"date":"2026-05-18T15:43:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/?p=12791"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:43:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:13:31","slug":"supreme-court-judges-strength-increased","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/supreme-court-judges-strength-increased\/","title":{"rendered":"President Promulgates Ordinance to Increase Supreme Court Judges Strength by 4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The President of India issued Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, to bring the sanctioned strength of judges in Supreme Court from 33 to 37 judges (Supreme Court may have the Chief Justice of India as well). The amendment has led to an increase in the number of judges in the apex court to 38, at present, including the CJI. The decision was made to lighten the backlog of cases and speed up the judiciary. This Ordinance made the necessary changes to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956. The proposal had been earlier approved by the Union Cabinet, which had emphasised the need for quicker justice delivery and better judicial infrastructure in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Key Objective of Supreme Court Judges Strength Increase<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The President issued the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance 2026.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court bench was raised from 33 to 37 judges (excluding the Chief Justice of India).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The strength of the Supreme Court now stands at 38 with the CJI.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ordinance modified the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The move aims to reduce the large backlog of pending cases in the apex court.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Union Cabinet on 25th May 2028 approved the proposal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The government assured that there will be speedy justice with the additional judges.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Article 124 of the Constitution gives Parliament the authority to fix the number of judges in the Supreme Court.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Supreme Court is the top court in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ordinances are promulgated by the President during Parliament&#8217;s recess.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If an Ordinance is passed, it bears the same force as a law passed by Parliament.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ordinance needs to be approved in due course by Parliament within the constitutional time limit.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the rise in the number of cases being filed in courts, judicial reforms have become significant.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The last change in the strength of the Supreme Court was in 2019.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are hopes that there will be more judges to assist in the speedy disposal of criminal, civil and constitutional cases.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Supreme Court is also the guardian and protector of the Constitution and Fundamental Rights.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Addressing judicial capacity is seen as a crucial aspect of enhancing access to justice.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The allocations of salaries and infrastructure will come from the Consolidated Fund of India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The proposal is to update and improve the Indian judiciary with the transition.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recently Asked PYQs<\/span><\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Exam Name &amp; Year<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Question<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Options<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Answer<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">UPSC Prelims 2020<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Which Article of the Constitution empowers the President to promulgate ordinances?<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A. Article 123 B. Article 143 C. Article 32 D. Article 356<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A. Article 123<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">SSC CGL 2022<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who appoints the judges of the Supreme Court of India?<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A. Prime Minister B. President of India C. Parliament D. Chief Justice alone<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">B. President of India<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">UPSC Prelims 2019<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Supreme Court of India was established under which Part of the Constitution?<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A. Part III B. Part IV C. Part V D. Part VI<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">C. Part V<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">SSC CHSL 2023<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who is known as the guardian of the Indian Constitution?<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A. Parliament B. Supreme Court C. Election Commission D. UPSC<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">B. Supreme Court<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">State PCS 2021<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">An ordinance issued by the President must be approved by Parliament within how many weeks of reassembly?<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A. 4 weeks B. 6 weeks C. 8 weeks D. 12 weeks<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">B. 6 weeks<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\" style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/rupee-breaches-96-against-us-dollar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rupee Breaches 96 Against US Dollar<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Conclusion &#8211; Supreme Court Expansion<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ordinance to make Supreme Court judges more powerful is certainly a step towards robustening the judicial system of India and speeding up justice delivery. The pressure on the top court, in recent years, has been a result of litigation and heavy workload of unheeded cases, due to which an expansion of the Judges is inevitable as per the need of the apex court. The Government will ensure efficiency and minimise delays in the courts by increasing the number of judges. The development also underscores the judicial administrative powers of the President and Parliament in the Constitution. Topics like ordinance, Article 124, judicial reforms, and the Supreme Court are very significant as far as competitive examinations and current affairs preparation are concerned.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The President of India issued Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, to bring the sanctioned strength of judges in Supreme Court from 33 to 37 judges (Supreme Court may have the Chief Justice of India as well). The amendment has led to an increase in the number of judges in the apex court [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polity"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12793,"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791\/revisions\/12793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.class24.study\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}