Rajya Sabha passes bill by voice vote to increase Supreme Court judges

The Story in Brief

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed, by voice vote, the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, replacing an ordinance that raised the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court from 34 judges to 38. The Lok Sabha had passed the bill on Monday without debate. Being a Money Bill, the Upper House cleared it and returned it to the Lok Sabha. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal told the Rajya Sabha the increase would speed up case disposal and give the Chief Justice of India greater flexibility in constituting constitution benches, which must include at least five judges. Meghwal said the CJI had written to the prime minister on 11 May, citing a substantial rise in daily filings and growing pendency and a shortage of judges for regular matters. He cited the Sabarimala matter being heard by a nine-judge Constitution Bench, reducing the number of judges available for other matters, including criminal appeals, and said the increase was a step towards improving judicial efficiency and that India would soon have its first woman CJI.

The Indian Opinion

The article principally reports the Union law minister’s explanation for raising the Supreme Court’s sanctioned strength and gives examples he cited, such as the CJI’s letter and the Sabarimala bench. It does not include responses from opposition leaders, members of the judiciary or independent data on pendency and case clearance. Readers should note the minister’s statements are policy claims; the report does not provide timelines for new appointments or empirical evidence that four additional seats will reduce backlog. Given those omissions, reasonable uncertainty remains about the practical effects of the change.

Original article: Rajya Sabha passes by voice vote bill to raise Supreme Court judge strength (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

This story was summarised and commented on by AI from the source linked above.