President Murmu promulgates ordinance to increase Supreme Court judge strength by four

President Droupadi Murmu on 17 May 2026 promulgated the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026, increasing the sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court of India to 37 judges, excluding the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

According to the notification published in the official gazette, the ordinance amends Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, by replacing the word “thirty-three” with “thirty-seven”. With this amendment, the total strength of the Supreme Court will now become 38, including the CJI.

The ordinance has been promulgated under Article 123 of the Constitution of India, which empowers the President to issue an ordinance when both Houses of Parliament are not in session and immediate action is considered necessary.

About Ordinance

Under Article 123, an ordinance has the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament. However, it must be laid before Parliament for approval once Parliament reconvenes. If Parliament does not approve the ordinance, it ceases to operate six weeks after the reassembly of Parliament.

The ordinance may also lapse earlier if:

• The President withdraws it, or
• Both Houses of Parliament pass resolutions disapproving it.

The Constitution further provides that an ordinance becomes void if it contains provisions that Parliament itself is not competent to enact.

A similar power is granted to state Governors under Article 213 of the Constitution of India, allowing them to promulgate ordinances when the state legislature is not in session.

The validity of ordinances and repeated re-promulgation was examined by the Supreme Court of India in the landmark case Krishna Kumar Singh and Another v. State of Bihar. In the 2017 judgment, a seven-judge Bench held that the ordinance-making power is an emergency provision and that law-making should ordinarily be carried out by the legislature.