This is a short Bill with a large practical effect. It amends the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 to raise the number of puisne judges of the Supreme Court from thirty three to thirty seven. Counting the Chief Justice of India, the sanctioned strength of the Court goes from thirty four to thirty eight, the first increase since 2019.
The reason is backlog. The Supreme Court carries a pending docket in the tens of thousands, and because it sits in benches of two or three, adding four judges allows roughly two additional benches to sit on any given day. Supporters argue that is the cheapest available lever for clearing arrears and for constituting the larger constitution benches that important cases require. Critics point out that raising sanctioned strength does nothing on its own, because the Court has often functioned below its existing sanctioned number while collegium recommendations sat with the government.
Procedurally the Bill is notable because Parliament was not in session when the change was first made. The government promulgated an ordinance on 16 May 2026 and the Bill was introduced when the Monsoon Session opened, passing the Lok Sabha on 3 August and the Rajya Sabha on 5 August 2026. Because it replaces that ordinance, the law operates retrospectively from 16 May 2026.