The Union Cabinet approved the proposal to increase the number of supreme court judges from 33 to 37, excluding the Chief Justice of India. Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal to introduce the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 in Parliament to amend the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, for increasing the number of judges of the Supreme Court of India by four from present 33 to 37.
The expenditure on the salaries of judges and supporting staff and other facilities will be met from the Consolidated Fund of India. Originally to increase the strength of the judges of the Supreme Court of India was enacted in 1956 vide The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act 1956. The Section 2 of the Act provided for the maximum number of Judges (excluding the Chief Justice of India) to be 10. Subsequently the judge strength of the Supreme Court of India was increased to 13 by The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act , 1960, to 17 by The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act 1977. In 1986 by Amendment Act 1986 it increased to 25, Amendment Act 2008 Supreme Court judge strength increased from 25 to 30. By The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act , 2019 increased from 30 to 33.
