President promulgated Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026 under Article 123 of Constitution; to increase Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38 (Including CJI) in the wake of increasing case pendency.
- From Supreme Court existence on 26 January 1950 this is the 7th time that strength has been increased under section 2 of Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956.
Current Status of Judicial Pendency (National Judicial Data Grid)
- Supreme Court (SC): Nearly 93,000 cases, including 22 five-judge, 5 seven-judge and 2 nine-judge; Constitution Bench matters.
- Subordinate Courts: The crisis deepens at the grassroots; High Courts carry over 6.4 million pending cases, while district courts are burdened with approximately 49 million.
Causes of pendency
- Non-linear Impact of Expansion: Historical judge expansions (2008 and 2019) indicate that merely increasing judicial numbers does not sustainably reduce the caseload as complexity of cases also rises.
- Inadequate Judge/population ratio: India has just 21 judges per million people against the recommended fifty Judges per million (120th Report of Law Commission).
- Dilution of Core Mandate: Routine admission of Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) under Article 136 has transformed the SC into a high-volume appellate.
- Financial Constraints: India spends only 0.1% of GDP on judiciary.
- Government as Litigator: Government responsible for around 50% of litigation.
- Systemic Bottlenecks: Procedural delays at the admission, severe infrastructure and subordinate staff shortages etc.
Government Initiatives
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