The 2026 Monsoon Session of the Indian Parliament (Part 3) : ISC Explained

The Monsoon Session is one of the three annual periods when the Parliament of India meets to discuss national issues, question the government, and pass new laws. It takes its name from the rainy season because it traditionally happens every year between July and August.

The 2026 Monsoon Session recently concluded on August 13, 2026, after running for 25 days with 19 official working days.

Basic Rules of the Monsoon Session

The Indian Parliament must meet at least twice a year, and the gap between two sessions cannot be more than six months. The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs manages the schedule, which involves:

The Lok Sabha: The lower house of Parliament where the public elects members.
The Rajya Sabha: The upper house where members represent India’s states.
Passing Bills: The main job is to turn proposed ideas (Bills) into official national laws.

Supreme Court Judges Amendment Bill 2026

The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2026 officially increased the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court of India from 34 to 38 judges, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Introduced by Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, the legislation specifically amended Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, raising the number of puisne judges (excluding the CJI) from 33 to 37. This critical structural reform represents the first expansion of the apex court’s bench strength since 2019.

Legislative Timeline and Path to Enactment

The structural change followed a swift legislative route in mid-2026 to ensure the judiciary could expand without delay:

May 5, 2026: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, formally approved the proposal to amend the 1956 Act.
May 16, 2026: Due to the immediate requirement for judicial expansion, President Droupadi Murmu promulgated the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026 under Article 123 of the Constitution.
July 20, 2026: The formal Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session to constitutionally replace the temporary ordinance.
August 3, 2026: The Lok Sabha passed the Bill via a voice vote.
August 2026: Following a subsequent passage in the Rajya Sabha, President Droupadi Murmu gave her official assent, fully integrating the amendment into India’s statutory framework.

Core Rationale: Pendency and Structural Capacity

The primary driver behind the 2026 amendment is the compounding crisis of case pendency in India’s legal system. The Supreme Court faces a massive backlog of civil, criminal, and constitutional matters. By expanding the bench to 38 judges, the government aims to achieve several structural objectives:

Accelerated Justice: Increasing the baseline headcount directly expands the daily throughput of cases, facilitating speedier disposals.
Simultaneous Constitution Benches: Important legal queries require five or more judges to sit on a Constitution Bench. A larger pool of judges allows the Supreme Court to set up these critical benches without stalling routine appellate hearings.
Reduced Judicial Burnout: Distributing a massive caseload across 38 judges instead of 34 mitigates intense operational pressure on individual justices.

Constitutional Context and Historical Evolution

Under Article 124(1) of the Constitution of India, Parliament alone has the authority to alter the size of the Supreme Court through legislative enactment. The court has been systematically upscaled over the decades to mirror the country’s demographic and litigious growth:

1950: The Supreme Court began with just 8 judges (including the CJI).
1956–1986: Successive amendments progressively raised the headcount to 11, 14, 18, and then 26 judges.
2009: Parliament expanded the composition to 31 judges.
2019: The bench size reached 34 judges, which remained the operational threshold until the 2026 amendment.

Births and Deaths Amendment Bill 2026

The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2026 strengthens India’s civil registration framework by introducing stringent oversight for delayed reporting. Introduced by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, the primary amendment modifies Section 13(3) of the principal 1969 Act. The new statutory framework shifts the authority to approve long-delayed registrations from executive to judicial oversight to prevent potential misuse and identity fraud.

Legislative Progress and Timeline

The amendment progressed rapidly through Parliament during the Monsoon Session of 2026:

July 20, 2026: The proposal received formal clearance from the Union Cabinet.
July 29, 2026: The Bill was officially introduced in the Lok Sabha.
July 31, 2026: The Lok Sabha passed the legislation via a voice vote.
August 4, 2026: The Rajya Sabha approved the amendment, concluding its passage through Parliament.

Core Change: Two-Tier Delayed Registration Framework

The critical structural change centres on the time elapsed since the vital life event. Under the original Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, any reporting delayed past one year required approval from an Executive Magistrate. The 2026 amendment splits this into a more rigorous two-tier mechanism:

Delays Between One and Two Years: If a birth or death is reported after one year but within a two-year window, registration is permitted only upon verification and an official order by a District Magistrate (DM), Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), or an authorised Executive Magistrate.
Delays Exceeding Two Years: For any vital life event reported more than two years after its occurrence, executive authority is entirely removed. Registration now explicitly mandates a verification process and a formal order from a Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC).

Rationale: Preventing Misuse of Gateway Credentials

The tightening of delayed registration rules directly responds to the increased power of birth certificates. Following previous statutory changes in 2023, the birth certificate acts as the definitive, single document to prove the date and place of birth. It serves as a mandatory gatekeeper for key civic interactions:

Securing school admissions
Enrolling in electoral rolls (voter logs)
Applying for an Aadhaar card, passport, or driving license
Registering marriages and securing government employment

Because an individual can claim a state-verified identity through a birth certificate, the government identified a growing risk of fraudulent, backdated registrations. Forcing individuals who report a birth or death after a two-year delay to go through a Judicial Magistrate establishes a rigorous legal filter, ensuring that false claims are weeded out before an official identity record is generated.

Legal Harmonisation with India's New Codes

Beyond the structural shifts in magistrate jurisdictions, the 2026 amendment performs essential administrative updates to India’s judicial lexicon. It systematically updates old legal references within the civil registry framework:

It deletes references to the old Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973.
It substitutes them with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which functions as India’s current criminal procedure law.

Current State of the Civil Registration System (CRS)

India’s Civil Registration System (CRS) operates under the administrative authority of the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, falling under the Ministry of Home Affairs. While everyday registration parameters dictate that vital events should ideally be reported within 21 days, the scale of delayed tracking remains a major challenge.

Watch this current affairs analysis explaining how the new judicial oversight provisions affect regional registration backlogs:

India’s overall civil registration coverage has improved significantly—climbing to a 99.1% registration rate for births and 99.4% for deaths. However, significant numbers of delayed entries remain concentrated across specific geographic pockets, notably in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand. The 2026 Act intends to standardise tracking uniformity across these regions while providing a clear legal path for genuine citizens suffering from administrative delays.

Paper Leak Bills 2026

The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Act, 2026 significantly strengthens India’s legal architecture against examination malpractice by imposing much harsher punishments and introducing strict, time-bound judicial timelines. Introduced by Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, the legislation fundamentally amends the foundational Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. The sweeping reforms were fast-tracked following nationwide student protests over high-profile examination controversies, including the paper leak and subsequent cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 medical entrance test.

Legislative Progress and Enactment

The structural revisions advanced swiftly through India’s legislative chambers during the 2026 Monsoon Session:

July 27, 2026: The Amendment Bill was officially introduced in the Lok Sabha.
July 29, 2026: The Lok Sabha approved the legislation via a voice vote following extensive debate.
July 30, 2026: The Rajya Sabha cleared the bill amidst an opposition walkout.
July 31, 2026: President Droupadi Murmu granted her official assent, publishing the Act in the Gazette for immediate national enforcement.

Key Changes: Enhanced Penalties and Fines

The 2026 Act transitions India’s anti-cheating guidelines into some of the most punitive deterrence mechanisms globally, categorising all examination offences as cognizable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable. It drastically upgrades the penalties established under the 2024 framework:

Individual Offenders: General exam malpractice and paper leaks now carry a prison sentence ranging from 5 to 10 years (up from 3–5 years) and a maximum fine of ₹50 lakh (up from ₹10 lakh).
Service Providers: Private printing facilities, digital platform operators, or test administration centres found guilty face corporate fines up to ₹5 crore (previously capped at ₹1 crore) and an institutional ban of up to 8 years.
Management Complicity: Corporate directors or test administrators actively concealing or facilitating a leak face a minimum of 5 to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Organised Rackets & Syndicates: Criminal networks running systematic paper leaks face a mandatory minimum of 7 to 10 years in jail, accompanied by staggering fines of up to ₹10 crore. Additionally, state authorities are authorised to seize properties belonging to convicted syndicate kingpins.

Strict Timelines for Investigation and Trial

Recognising that endless judicial delays compound the mental anguish of millions of student aspirants, the 2026 Act establishes concrete, hard statutory deadlines:

Two-Month Investigation Clock: Law enforcement or designated agencies must finish their probe and file a formal chargesheet within two months of registering the First Information Report (FIR).
Three-Month Trial Limit: Specialised judicial trials must fully conclude within three months from the date the chargesheet is submitted.
High Court Appeals Resolution: Any subsequent appeal filed in a state High Court must be reviewed and resolved within 90 days, eliminating multi-year litigation bottlenecks.

Enforcement and Structural Overhaul

To ensure execution does not falter, the Central Government has designed a multi-agency strategy to root out corruption:

Special Task Force (STF): The Centre can now bypass local police forces entirely to notify a dedicated Special Task Force to investigate high-stakes national paper leaks. Once an STF assumes jurisdiction, it holds absolute, centralised investigative authority over that case.
Special Fast-Track Courts: Every State Government and Union Territory administration is mandated to designate Special Fast-Track Courts operating on a day-to-day trial basis exclusively for exam fraud.
Comprehensive Examination Scope: The expanded mandate applies to all exams conducted by central bodies, including the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), National Testing Agency (NTA), and Railway Recruitment Boards (RRB).

Disclaimer: The above-mentioned information and facts are taken from news sources such as the Press Information Bureau and The Hindu. For Part 1 and Part 2, visit the ‘Blogs’ on our website.

The 2026 Monsoon Session of the Indian Parliament (Part 3)

The 2026 Monsoon Session of the Indian Parliament (Part 3) : ISC Explained

Table of Contents

Supreme Court Judges Amendment Bill 2026

Legislative Timeline and Path to Enactment

Core Rationale: Pendency and Structural Capacity

Constitutional Context and Historical Evolution