In 1986, the strength of the apex court was increased to 25, excluding the CJI. Subsequently, the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2009 further augmented the strength of the court from 25 to 30. The Lok Sabha has now proposed a bill to increase the number of judges to 34, including the CJI
New Delhi: In the backdrop of nearly 60,000 pending cases in the Supreme Court, Lok Sabha on Monday (August 5) proposed a bill to increase the number of judges in the top court from 30 to 33.
As of now, the Supreme Court has a sanctioned strength of 30 judges, plus the chief justice of India, raising the count to 31 judges.
Once the bill gets parliamentary approval, its sanctioned strength would go up to 33, plus the CJI, according to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill introduced by law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The bill comes days after Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the number of Supreme Court judges.
Due to lack of judges, the required number of constitution benches to decide crucial cases involving questions of law were not being formed, the CJI said.
"You would recall that way back in 1988, about three decades ago, the judge strength of the Supreme Court was increased from 18 to 26, and then again after two decades in 2009, it was increased to 31, including the CJI, to expedite disposal of cases to keep pace with the rate of institution," the CJI wrote.
"I request you to kindly consider, on top priority, to augment the judge strength in the SC appropriately so that it can function more efficiently and effectively as it will go a long way to attain the ultimate goal of rendering timely justice to the litigant public," Gogoi added.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 was last amended in 2009 to increase the judges' strength from 25 to 30 (excluding the CJI).
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 initially provided for a maximum of 10 judges (excluding the CJI).
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 in 1977.
The working strength of the Supreme Court was, however, restricted to 15 judges by the Cabinet (excluding the Chief Justice of India) till the end of 1979.
But the restriction was withdrawn at the request of the chief justice of India.
In 1986, the strength of the top court was increased to 25, excluding the CJI. Subsequently, the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2009 further augmented the strength of the court from 25 to 30.
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