President Droupadi Murmu has promulgated an ordinance to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from 33 to 37, excluding the Chief Justice of India.The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, was promulgated on Saturday evening to amend Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, replacing the word “33” therein with “37”.It means the Supreme Court will now have a sanctioned strength of 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India.The current working strength of the Supreme Court is 32, including the CJI. Four judges are due to retire later this year.Now, CJI Surya Kant-led Supreme Court Collegium is expected to recommend names to fill these vacancies.The last increase in Supreme Court judges’ strength happened in 2019, when it was taken from 31 to 33 (excluding the CJI).According to Article 124 (1) in the Constitution, “There shall be a Supreme Court of India consisting of a Chief Justice of India and, until Parliament by law prescribes a larger number, of not more than seven other Judges…”.At its inception in 1950, the Supreme Court had only eight judges, including the CJI. The number of judges in the Supreme Court was first increased in 1956 to 11, including the CJI and then to 14 in 1960 and 18 in 1977.The Supreme Court’s judge-strength was increased from 18 to 26 in 1986 and further to 31 in 2009. It was increased to its present strength of 34 (including the CJI) in 2019.In an important decision, the Union Cabinet had on May 5 approved a proposal to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court from 34 judges to 38 (including the CJI)The decision was taken in a meeting of the Union Cabinet and the government had decided to introduce ‘The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026’ in Parliament to amend ‘The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956’ for increasing the number of Judges of the Supreme Court by four from the present 33 to 37 (excluding the Chief Justice of India).However, to give an immediate effect to the decision, the government chose to take the ordinance route as Parliament was not in session.The government maintained that the increase in the number of judges will allow the Supreme Court to function more efficiently and effectively, ensuring speedy justice.As of March 31, 2026, the total pendency in the Supreme Court touched a record high of 93,143 cases.