Recently there were reports of the announcement of a joint conference of the chief ministers and the chief justices of the various High Courts called by the Chief Justice of India.

Have the number of cases filed in courts gone up so substantially as to be the main reason for the backlog of cases in courts? In the opinion of Justice Gopala Gowda, that is indeed so.

The debate on the ‘collegium system’ of judges’ appointment needs to move towards discussing what quantitative metrics should be used rather than whether it should be adopted at all.

Recent developments seeking to set up fast track commercial courts are a good example of how our judicial reform process is hampered by lack of relevant data and clear reasoning.

Legal reform debates and discussions need to be substantiated by a rigorous analysis that is supported by data. And the first step in that process is to ensure that related data and information is available for a meaningful analysis out.

As cases continue to pile up in the courts, there is an urgent need for civil society to come up with ways and means of measuring the judiciary’s performance and to analyse the root causes for such delays.