New Delhi, May 18 -- The Union government has promulgated an ordinance increasing the sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court from 33 to 37, excluding the Chief Justice of India (CJI), clearing the decks for the appointment of four additional judges to the country's highest court amid mounting pendency and growing demands for more constitution benches. The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026 received President Droupadi Murmu's assent and was published in the Gazette of India on Saturday. The ordinance amends Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 by substituting the word "thirty-three" with "thirty-seven". The ordinance was promulgated under Article 123 of the Constitution since Parliament is currently not in session. It comes days after the Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, approved the proposal following a formal request earlier this year by CJI Surya Kant. The government, in its statement on May 5, said the increase is intended to ensure "speedier justice," pointing to the growing backlog. The latest expansion comes more than six years after the previous revision in 2019, when Parliament raised the strength from 30 to 33 judges, excluding the CJI. The latest revision comes at a time when the Supreme Court is grappling with a pendency of more than 92,000 cases. People aware of the development had earlier indicated that CJI Kant, in a communication sent to the Centre in February, sought an immediate increase of four judges while proposing a calibrated approach under which the impact of the expansion could later be assessed before considering any further increase. The proposal was also followed up by the CJI's office. The Constitution does not prescribe a fixed number of judges in the Supreme Court. Under Article 124(1), it provides for a CJI and leaves it to Parliament to determine the strength of the court through legislation, allowing periodic revisions in response to rising caseloads.P4...