5 min readJun 2, 2026 04:03 PM IST First published on: Jun 2, 2026 at 04:03 PM IST The promulgation of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance 2026 has predictably triggered a familiar set of debates. Is expanding the Court’s strength the rightful remedy to address its mounting caseload, now exceeding 93,000 pending matters? Who should be appointed to these seats? What does the timing tell us about the government’s intentions and its relationship with the judiciary? These are legitimate questions, each worthy of sustained inquiry. But there is a prior, and much more structural, question that must not get crowded out in the urgency of the moment. What does the routine resort to the ordinance route tell us about the position of our Parliament? What are the costs when constitutional reform of this kind proceeds by executive fiat rather than legislative deliberation? Article 123 of the Constitution empowers the President to promulgate ordinances only when Parliament is not in session and circumstances require immediate action. The provision was designed as an emergency …