Exclusive: Click through for more stats, data and an explanation of The Pendency Project.

For the first time this financial year and following the summer break, in the month of July the Supreme Court had decreased its mountain of cases.

54,547 : SC cases pending as at 1 May 2011

1,312 : Number of additional unfinished cases at July-end since 1 May.

1,320 : Number of pending cases fewer at July-end than June.

9,342 : Number of matters disposed by SC in July

8,022 : Number of new cases hitting the SC

343 : Number of matters disposed in July that were pending for more than one year

3-and-a-half : Total number of years to dispose of all SC case backlog at July rate

471 : Reduction of cases over 2010-11 financial year (the first reduction in three years)

Legally India will chart the SCs progress in its mission (or lack thereof) month-by-month as it publishes updates on its website. After all, what good is transparency if no one is watching?

Feel free to make predictions, bets or wagers on next month’s big blue number in the comments and whether it will go up or down. The one getting closest may win something, such as a warm glow of satisfaction, or the knowledge that they know the way the bench works better than anyone else.

*Note: total disposed cases includes cases that may have been disposed of in previous months but were not recorded in the system due to administrative reasons.