Lok Sabha passes SC Judges Amendment Bill in 10 mins amid din

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 without any debate and with just a brief introductory statement by the law minister. The government also introduced two bills amid continuing protests by the opposition, demanding the home minister's statement on the recent police action against agitating students and also over the Ram temple donation theft.

The Lok Sabha witnessed repeated disruptions as the opposition protests continued. When the House assembled at 2 pm, law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill 2026, which replaced an ordinance.

While introducing the bill for consideration and passing, Meghwal said, "After Independence, home minister GB Pant had introduced the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Bill in 1956 which fixed the number of Supreme Court judges at 11 including the Chief Justice of India... There is a growing need to increase the number of justices in the Supreme Court. With this amendment bill the number will be increased to 38 from 34. This will strengthen the judicial capacity."


Within seven minutes, the bill was taken up for consideration. At 2.09 pm, the minister stood to move the bill for passing. It was passed at 2.10 pm amid sloganeering by the opposition, and the House was adjourned for the day.

Earlier, when the House convened at noon, after the opposition protest forced the first adjournment at 11 am, statistics and programme implementation minister Rao Inderjit introduced the Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026, which proposes to modernise the legal framework of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), strengthen its governance and expand its role in statistics and allied fields. Then finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Bankers' Books Evidence Bill, 2026.