RAS question
What judge strength does the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 propose, excluding the Chief Justice of India?
Correct answer: (C) 37 judges.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 proposes to raise the Supreme Court's judge strength, excluding the Chief Justice of India, from 33 to 37 judges.
Explanation
PIB's release says the Union Cabinet approved introduction of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 to amend the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956. The specific change is an increase of four judges: from the present 33 to 37, excluding the Chief Justice of India. This matters because Article 124(1) allows Parliament to prescribe a larger number of Supreme Court judges by law, and the 1956 Act is the law that fixes that number. So the proposed sanctioned strength under the 2026 Bill is not the existing 33, but 37 judges besides the CJI.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Thirty judges is not the 2026 proposal; PIB states that 30 was the strength before the 2019 increase to 33.
- (B) Thirty-three judges is the present sanctioned strength excluding the Chief Justice of India, not the increased strength proposed by the 2026 Bill.
- (D) Forty judges is not supported by the Bill or the PIB release, which gives the proposed figure as 37 excluding the Chief Justice of India.
Concept
This tests the constitutional mechanism for fixing the Supreme Court's judge strength through parliamentary law under Article 124 and the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act. It recurs in RAS because judicial appointments, court capacity and institutional design are standard polity-current affairs overlaps.