The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to introduce a bill to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court from 30 to 33, excluding the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
The cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"When there are so many matters pending in the Supreme Court, there is a need for more judges. Hence, the cabinet has decided to increase the number of the Supreme Court judges from 30 to 33, a 10 per cent rise," Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said during the cabinet briefing.
The new three judges for the apex court will be recruited on time, he added.
He continued, "In 2016, the NDA government had increased the number of judges in High Court from 906 to 1079. This was done to ensure that the people get speedy justice and to address the issue of delays."
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is due to retire on November 17 this year.