It highlights a profound shortage that marginal additions cannot easily resolve.
Key Points
- Lok Sabha passed a bill increasing Supreme Court judge strength from 33 to 37, excluding the Chief Justice.
- Total judges across India's courts increased from 20,573 in 2019 to 21,841 in 2025.
- India's judge-to-pending case ratio fell sharply from 555 per million in 2019 to 403 in 2025.
- The judge-to-population ratio remained broadly stagnant, rising marginally from 15.3 per million in 2019 to 15.4 in 2025.
- India's judicial strength remains far below France, the UK and Germany, which recorded substantially higher ratios in 2024.
The Lok Sabha recently passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, raising the sanctioned strength of apex court judges from 33 to 37 (excluding Chief Justice of India) to address mounting backlogs.
While this offers immediate relief, long-term structural issues persist. Data reveals that although the total number of judges across all court tiers increased from 20,573 in 2019 to 21,841 in 2025, judicial capacity relative to workload has severely declined.
Specifically, India's judge-to-pending case ratio dropped from 555 per million in 2019 to 403 per million in 2025, as litigation outpaced appointments.
Meanwhile, the judge-to population ratio has remained almost flat, moving from 15.3 per million in 2019 to 14.8 in 2020, and reaching 15.4 in 2025.
Among judicial tiers, subordinate courts maintain a higher judge-to-population density than higher courts.
Internationally, India ranks 10th in judicial strength based on the judge-to-population ratio.
In 2024, nations such as France, the UK, and Germany led with 418, 286, and 249 judges per million people, respectively.
India's figure of just 15 highlights a profound shortage that marginal additions cannot easily resolve.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
