Article 145(3)

Article 145(3) of the Constitution of India mandates that the minimum number of Supreme Court judges sitting to decide any case involving a 'substantial question of law as to the interpretation of this Constitution' shall be five. Such a bench of 5 or more judges is called a Constitution Bench. The Chief Justice of India constitutes Constitution Benches and assigns matters. Constitution Bench matters have included landmark cases: Kesavananda Bharati (1973, 13 judges — basic structure), Indira Sawhney (1992, 9 judges — Mandal/reservations), I.R. Coelho (2007, 9 judges — Ninth Schedule), K.S. Puttaswamy (2017, 9 judges — privacy), Indian Young Lawyers Association (Sabarimala 2018, 5 judges), Aadhaar (2018, 5 judges), Article 370 (2023, 5 judges), Electoral Bonds (2024, 5 judges). Larger benches (7, 9, 11, or 13 judges) are formed when an earlier Constitution Bench decision needs reconsideration or significant constitutional questions arise. The growth of the Constitution Bench docket — with cases like marital rape, hijab, gay marriage, sub-categorisation of SC/STs pending — has been one driver of overall SC pendency, prompting calls for a dedicated Constitution Bench under the National Court of Appeal model.

• 1 Constitutional source: Article 145(3)
• 2 Minimum bench size: 5 judges
• 3 Trigger: substantial question of constitutional interpretation
• 4 CJI constitutes Constitution Benches
• 5 Landmark cases: Kesavananda (13), Indira Sawhney (9), Puttaswamy (9), Aadhaar (5), Article 370 (5), Electoral Bonds (5)
• 6 Larger benches (7, 9, 11, 13) for reconsideration or major questions
• 7 Constitution Bench docket: hundreds of pending matters
• 8 Doctrinal anchor: basic structure (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973)

The Hindu's May 29, 2026 op-ed on SC pendency proposed a dedicated Constitution Bench under the long-pending National Court of Appeal model — decoupling Article 145(3) matters from routine appellate work to reduce the ~80,000-case backlog.