3.1.4. Number of Judges for Supreme Court

Originally, under Article 124 of the Indian Constitution the strength of Supreme Court was fixed at eight (one chief justice and seven other judges).

♤ Article 124 (1) provides the power to the Parliament to increase the number of judges if it deems necessary.

♤ The Parliament through the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 increased strength of Supreme Court to ten. The Act was last amended in 2009 to increase the judges’ strength from 25 to 31.

♤ Recently, Parliament has passed the legislation to increase the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court from 31 to 34 including the Chief Justice of India.