DAKSH AND IIT Delhi collaborate for interdisciplinary research and building solutions for the judicial system

A focus on enhancing access to justice for “samaaj, bazaar and sarkar” and projects that include evaluation of user interface (UI)/ user experience (UX) for select Indian High Court websites, case flow management in India via Simulation Modelling and Cheque Bouncing Case Analysis

New Delhi - June 10, 2021: Leveraging the power of interdisciplinary research, technology and community of practice for innovators, researchers & policymakers to accelerate reforms in the Indian judicial system, the “DAKSH Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Law and Technology” at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has kickstarted its first three projects. These are “Evaluation of User Interface (UI)/ User Experience (UX) for select Indian High Court websites”, “Case Flow Management in India via Simulation Modelling” and “Cheque Bouncing Case Analysis”. These projects attempt to use analytical frameworks from different disciplines to build tools for a better understanding of the Indian judiciary.

The research produced by the CoE will be interdisciplinary, drawing from various domains like Operations Research, Economics, Public Policy, Design Studies, Statistical Techniques, Data-based Modelling, Natural Language Processing, and Machine Learning. The CoE will design, innovate, and enable the building of technology to translate research into action tools and solutions.

“We are starting with simple but gargantuan issues for our legal system. For example - through steps like DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control), we will analyse the status of case-flow management and suggest improvements. The CoE’s analysis on cheque-bouncing cases will help us engage with the Supreme Court’s committee to examine the acceleration of the disposal of cheque bounce cases across India. We are also conducting a detailed study on the User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) of the websites of six High Courts of India - Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. We will analyze the accessibility and availability of information on these websites and suggest changes. Through many other such projects, we aim to make the CoE a hub for innovative research and implementation models for the justice system,” said Professor Nomesh Bolia, Coordinator - Centre of Excellence for Law and Technology,

“Establishing a dedicated Center of Excellence for Law and Technology has been an exciting journey for us. Since the launch, we’ve seen some major developments in our program, and one of the biggest amongst those has been bringing together a mentors’ group with esteemed personalities such as Dr C.K.Mathew - IAS (retd) & former Chief Secretary - Govt. of Rajasthan, Prof. Daniel Martin Katz - Scientist, Technologist & Professor, Mr. Rahul Matthan - Tech Policy ThinkTank & Partner at Trilegal, Dr Roland Vogl - Executive Director of Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology at Stanford Law School, and Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee - Additional Solicitor General of India. We also recently organised our first public event - a virtual session on ‘Modelling the Law & Justice System’ with Prof Daniel Martin Katz,” said Surya Prakash BS, Programme Director, DAKSH.

The CoE is ongoing at IIT-Delhi and is has wide visibility in the institution with a mix of technology and legal expertise aiming to resolve some of the biggest challenges of the Indian judiciary through its interdisciplinary approach.

About DAKSH

DAKSH is a Bengaluru-based civil society organisation founded in 2008, working at the intersection of public policy, data science, and operations research. It undertakes research and activities to promote accountability and better governance in India and has done extensive work on judicial reforms since 2015. Under the ‘Rule of Law’ Project launched in 2015, they focused on solving the problem of pendency of cases and approach court delays from the perspectives of data, efficiency, process, technology, and administration. For more information, visit: https://dakshindia.org/

About IIT-Delhi

Established in 1961, the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi is India’s leading engineering and technology-focused higher education institution with deep expertise in almost all areas of technology. It has over 600 faculty, 15 departments, 9 Centres of excellence and been conferred the status of “Institute of Nation Importance (INI)” as well as “Institute of Eminence (IoE)” by the Government of India. For more details, visit: https://www.iitd.ac.in/