The Union Cabinet of India on Tuesday gave its consent to a proposal to present the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 in Parliament, in a bid to strengthen the power of the Supreme Court of India. The proposed bill aims at amending the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 by increasing the number of judges in the Supreme Court, excluding the Chief Justice of India.
The cabinet believes that the move will increase the efficiency and overall operations of the apex court which still performs with a huge backlog of pending cases. With the situation of increasing the number of judges, the court is likely to achieve better rates of disposal of cases and delivery of justice on a broad spectrum of issues.
An official release pointed out that the expansion would enhance the ability of the judiciary to deal with increasing litigation as well as the reduction of delays that long have been a problem for citizens and legal experts alike. The program is a subset of efforts that are aimed at simplifying the judicial process and enhancing the access to justice.
The government also made it clear that the extra financial load that the increase will cause, such as the wages of the judges and the administrative personnel, and the infrastructure that they will maintain, will be borne through the Consolidated Fund of India. It will make the necessary provisions needed to accommodate the expansion in terms of resources and facilities.
Legal scholars think that although the reinforced judicial strength is a good move, it should be coupled with the procedural reform and improved system of case management to have a long term effect. It is likely that the bill will be tabled in Parliament during the next session so that it may be further discussed and adopted.