Lok Sabha Question No. 4882 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-01
Subject: Supreme Court Judges
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Gowdar Mallikarjunappa Siddeshwara, Poonam (Mahajan) Vajendla Rao

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE

## DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4882

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 01.04.2022

## Supreme Court Judges

## 4882. SHRI G.M. SIDDESHWAR: SHRIMATI POONAM MAHAJAN:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the present strength of judges in the Supreme Court;
- (b) whether  there  is  a  practice  of  reviewing  the  judge's  strength  from  time  to time and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the number of judges of Apex Court has been increased in the past, if so, the number of times it has been increased so far;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to strengthen the mechanism for appointment of judges for better results in future, if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether  the  Government  recently  received  any  proposal  to  increase  the strength of Supreme Court judges; and
- (f) if so, whether the proposal is under active consideration of the Government, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE

## (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a)  to  (f):  The  sanctioned  judge  strength  of  the  Supreme  Court  is  34  (including Chief Justice of  India).  As  on  25.03.2021,  32  Judges  are  in  position,  leaving  02 vacancies  to  be  filled.  The  Supreme  Court  (Number  of  Judges)  Act  1956,  as originally  enacted,  provided  for  the  maximum  number  of  Judges(excluding  the Chief Justice of India) to be 10. This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme

Court  (Number  of  Judges),  Amendment  Act,  1960,  and  to  17  by  the  Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1977. The SupremeCourt (Number of Judges)  AmendmentAct,  1986  augmented  the  strength  of  the  Supreme  Court Judges  from  17  to  25  excluding  the  Chief  Justice  of  India.  Subsequently,  the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2009 further augmented the strength of the SupremeCourtJudges,from 25 to 30.

The  Chief  Justice  of India  vide  letter  dated  21.6.2019  requested  the Government  to  consider  augmenting  the  Judge-strength  in  the  Supreme  Court appropriately. Though there has been no criteria for fixing the judge strength of the Supreme Court, in view of the number of cases pending disposal, an increase in the judge  strength  was  considered  by  Government.  The  sanctioned  strength  of Supreme Court of  India  has  been  increased  from  30  to  33  (excluding  the  Chief Justice  of  India)  w.e.f.  09.08.2019.  Thereafter,  the  Government  has  not  received any further proposal for increase in the strength of Supreme Court Judges.

The Government had brought into operation the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 w.e.f.13.04.2015. However, both the Acts were challenged in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court vide Judgment dated 16.10.2015declaredboth the Acts as  unconstitutional  and  void.  The  Collegium  system  as  existing  prior  to  the enforcement  of  the  Constitution  (Ninety-Ninth  Amendment)  Act,  2014  was declared  to  be  operative.Subsequently,  the  Supreme  Court  vide  order  dated 16.12.2015  directed  the  Government  to  finalize  the  existing  Memorandum  of Procedure  (MoP)  by  supplementing  it  in  consultation  with  the  Supreme  Court Collegium taking into consideration eligibility criteria, transparency, establishment of  secretariat  and  mechanism  to  deal  with  complaints.  The  MoP  is  under finalization by the Government in consultation with the Supreme Court Collegium.