New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Monday passed a bill to replace an ordinance that increased the number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38 without a debate as opposition members persisted with slogan-shouting over the issues of NEET paper leak and alleged theft of Ram temple donations.
Last week, a bill to amend the law on birth and death registration was also passed without any debate in the Lok Sabha under similar circumstances.
A statutory resolution moved by the opposition members denouncing the promulgation of the ordinance was also rejected by a voice vote.
After brief introductory remarks by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, the Chair urged the members to speak on the statutory resolution, but as sloganeering continued, the bill was put to vote and subsequently cleared.
After the passage of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, the House was adjourned for the day.
The bill was listed in the agenda almost every day since its introduction on July 20 but could not come up for consideration and passage.
The government has maintained that an enhanced strength is one of the most exigent and viable solutions for tackling pendency in the top court.
In May, the Union Cabinet had cleared the bill to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court, but soon thereafter the government brought an ordinance.
After the ordinance, five judges were appointed to the apex court based on the upgraded sanctioned strength.
After the ordinance was issued, the sanctioned strength of the apex court went up to 38 from 34, including the Chief Justice of India.
According to the bill, the volume of litigation in the Supreme Court has constantly been on the rise due to a persistent gap between institution and final disposal of cases in the court.
As on January 1, this year, there were 92,101 cases pending in the Supreme Court.
Even while working at near-full sanctioned capacity of 34 judges since 2019, the Supreme Court recorded institution of 75,410 fresh matters in 2025 against a disposal of 65,615 cases.
It said there has been a persistent gap between institution and final disposal of cases, which highlights the ongoing challenge of managing the docket, particularly in relation to older pending cases and those necessitating the attention and adjudication by larger benches.
“The increase in judge strength of the court is one of the most exigent and viable solutions for tackling the pending backlog of cases in the Supreme Court.
“It will also make it possible for the Chief Justice of India to constitute Constitutional Benches for a required period of days on a regular basis to hear cases involving a substantial question of law,” it said.
The ordinance is an executive power exercised by the government to frame laws in an emergency when Parliament is not in session.
An ordinance has a life of six months, but once a session commences, the ordinance has to be passed by Parliament into a law within six weeks or 42 days else it lapses.
