No fresh proposal received to increase number of SC judges: Kiren Rijiju

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said at present the number of judges of the Supreme Court stands at 34 (including the chief justice of India). The working strength of the top court is 32, leaving two vacancies to be filled.

New Delhi: The government has not received any proposal after June 2019 to increase the number of judges of the Supreme Court, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday. Responding to a question on the sanctioned strength of the apex court, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said at present it stands at 34 (including the chief justice of India). The working strength of the top court is 32, leaving two vacancies to be filled. He explained that The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act 1956, as originally enacted, provided for the maximum number of judges (excluding the chief justice of India) to be 10.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 another amendment to the law. The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986 augmented the strength of the Supreme Court judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI. Subsequently, a fresh amendment in 2009 further augmented the strength of top court judges from 25 to 30.

"The Chief Justice of India vide letter dated June 21, 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) with effect from August 9, 2019. Thereafter, the Government has not received any further proposal for increase in the strength of Supreme Court judges," he said in a written response. Responding to a separate question on high court judges, he said against the sanctioned strength of 1104, 717 judges are working in the 25 high courts, leaving 387 vacancies.

"At present, 168 proposals are at various stages of processing between the government and the Supreme Court Collegium. Further, recommendations from High Court Collegiums are yet to be received in respect of 219 vacancies in high courts," he said.

PTI