New Delhi: The President on Saturday issued an ordinance – the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance 2026 – to increase the number of judges of the apex court from 33 to 37 with immediate effect. With this amendment, the strength of SC has now increased to 38 judges including the CJI.The ordinance will be brought before the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha when they convene for the monsoon session. It will be replaced by an amendment bill and the government will have to get it passed by both houses. The Union Cabinet on May 5 had approved the proposal to increase the number of SC judges. This has been done in view of the increasing number of pending cases – more than 90,000 cases are pending for disposal before the apex court. In 1950, the SC was established for the first time with eight judges including the CJI.