Numbers. You wouldn’t think that we lawyers have much to do with them. You’d be surprised. As an Indian lawyer, I can safely say there is a string of numbers drilled so deep into my brain, I couldn’t forget them if I tried. They are an odd jumble of facts and figures. Sometimes they are years, for instance 1872 – the year the Indian Contract Act came into existence.

In the Bible, when Moses and Aaron demand that the Pharoah free the Jewish people living in Egypt, Pharaoh not only refuses but imposes a cruel and perverse rule upon the Jewish workers: they must now meet their daily output of bricks without the daily supply of straw (a key binding agent for bricks) by the Egyptian rulers.

I read today that months and months after unsuccessful attempts by the ruling party in the Parliament to push the ordinance on the land acquisition act, the Prime Minister has announced that it will be dropped.

A wide variance exists between how a case progresses through various high courts (HCs), according to a study by Bengaluru-based non-governmental organization (NGO) Daksh aimed at understanding how delays take place in the judicial system and how they affect the delivery of justice.

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.

In the initial stages of our work, we decided to work towards a comprehensive report on the state of the judiciary in India. For this we invited a range of lawyers, academics and experts in public policy for a consultation.

In the initial stages of our work, we decided to work towards a comprehensive report on the state of the judiciary in India. For this we invited a range of lawyers, academics and experts in public policy for a consultation.

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.

In the last few months at DAKSH we have been working with a lot of big numbers. We are collecting data on all ongoing cases from 10 High Courts in India. We already have details for over five lakh case records from these High Courts, and this data grows every day.

Earlier this year, the DAKSH team interviewed ex–Chief Justice of India, M.N. Venkatachaliah. A renowned luminary of the Indian courts, Justice Venkatachaliah is well known for his immense contributions to the field of law in India.