Supreme Court Bench strength increased to 34 judges

The President of India has signed off on the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2019to increase the strength of the Supreme Court to thirty-three (33), excluding the Chief Justice of India.

The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha last Monday. The money bill was returned by the Rajya Sabha to Lok Sabha post consideration, without any proposed amendments. 

The  Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill had referred to the Chief Justice of India's "intimation" that the inadequate strength of judges was the prime reason behind the backlog.

The Bill had also informed that the creation of three additional posts of judges in the Supreme Court would result in the total expenditure of Rs 6,81,54,528 drawn from the Consolidated Fund of India.

The Union Cabinet had decided to introduce a Bill to increase the strength of the Supreme Court by 10% on July 31.

Prior to the introduction of the Bill, the Supreme Court had a sanctioned strength of 31 judges. The move has now taken the number of posts at the Apex Court to 34.