After 21 yrs, on Cabinet table today: SC needs more judges

Twenty-one years after Parliament increased the strength of Supreme Court judges...

Twenty-one years after Parliament increased the strength of Supreme Court judges to the present 26, the Cabinet is expected to consider tomorrow a proposal for introducing a Bill this Budget session on increasing the number of judges to 31 in the apex court.

The move to have more Supreme Court judges is much belated but is required nonetheless considering that the judiciary at all levels, including the apex court, is grappling with a mounting backlog of cases. The existing strength of 26 includes the Chief Justice of India, appointed by the President.

CJI K G Balakrishnan has on several occasions called for addition in the number of judges, be it in High Courts or the Supreme Court.

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As per latest figures received from the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law there exists vacancy for two judges as on January 21, 2008.

The proposal to add five more judges to the existing strength comes after 1986 when the numbers last rose — from 18 to 26 judges. Since then, despite an increasing backlog of cases, the number of judges remained the same.

The Supreme Court initially began with a Chief Justice and seven judges, leaving it to Parliament to increase this number. In the early years, all judges of the Supreme Court sat together to hear the cases. But as work increased and the backlog grew, Parliament increased the number of judges from 8 to 11 in 1956. In 1978, four more judges were added to the strength of 14.

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