SC junks PIL seeking doubling of judges’ numbers in HCs, district courts

Subject :Polity

Context:

The Supreme Court refused to entertain a PIL seeking doubling of the number of judges in all the 25 high courts and subordinate courts across India, saying getting more judges was not the panacea for all evils.

What was the judgement of the Supreme Court:

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud noted that populist measures and simplistic solutions were unlikely to resolve such issues.
The court permitted Upadhyay to withdraw the PIL with a liberty to file a fresh one with proper research on statistics on recruitment, vacancies, etc in the lower judiciary.

Who has the power to increase the strength of judges in various high courts.

The Parliament is competent authority to increase the number of judges if it deems necessary.
In 2019 the Parliament increased the strength of the Supreme Court Of India from 31 to 34 through The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 was amended in 2009 to increase the judge’s strength from 25 to 31 (including the CJI).
As per the Article 124(1) of the Constitution of India, the strength of the Supreme Court is fixed by the law made by the Parliament