Presidential Assent To Bill Increasing Number Of Judges In SC [Read The Bill]

The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2019 has become law of the land after it received Presidential assent on Saturday.

President Ram Nath Kovind signed the Bill into law which will increase the sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court to 33 from 30, excluding the Chief Justice of India. This money bill was passed by Parliament earlier this week.

The decision has come in the light of rising number of cases pending in the Supreme Court and the inability of the court to constitute enough number of Constitutional benches to decide important cases involving questions of law due to paucity of judges. CJI Ranjan Gogoi had in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister requested him to increase the strength of judges in the court.

"You would recall that way back in 1988, about three decades ago, the judge strength of the SC 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," he wrote.

This law amends Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, thereby increasing the total number of judges in the Supreme Court to 34 from 31. With the law now coming into force, the Supreme Court collegium will recommend three names to the government for appointment as SC judges. 

Click here to download the bill