A society for legal information
Collecting, organising and sharing the law.
The Law Information Center began as an idea on 10 January 1982, at a time when legal knowledge in India was scattered, hard to reach, and available mainly to a few. It was formally registered as a society on 16 December 1994. Its founder members included some of the most distinguished legal minds of their generation, among them K.T.S. Tulsi, Arun Jaitley, Harish N. Salve, Gopal Subramaniam and Aruneshwar Gupta. Dipankar P. Gupta was its first Chief Patron, followed by Justice S.C. Agarwal, Justice D.P. Wadhwa, Justice Arijit Pasayat.
Justice A.K. Patnaik, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, guides the Center as the Chief Patron of its present Executive Committee.
The Center rests on a simple conviction: justice begins with knowledge. Its mission is to give judges, advocates, academicians, teachers, students and ordinary citizens legal information that is accurate, well structured and easy to reach, so that each of them can understand the law, apply it, and rely on it with confidence.
Updated as on 01.11.2026
Understanding Courts Better
Supreme Court of India
Sitting judges in seniority order, Parent High Court, retirement dates, and the projected Chief Justice of India succession.
High Courts
Sitting judges of all 25 High Courts, with Permanent High Court Seniority (PHC-S) and All India Seniority.
All India Seniority
Every sitting High Court judge, including Additional Judges, numbered by oath date as on 01.11.2026.
Chief Justices
The Chief Justice of each High Court, with Parent High Court and Permanent High Court Seniority.
Vacancies
Sanctioned strength, working strength and vacancies in the Supreme Court and the High Courts.
Highest courts of the world
The highest court of every UN member state, and of the Holy See and the State of Palestine, with verified official links.
The Center
History and milestonesThe idea of a legal resource center was formed on 10.01.1982. From a card index of about 11,000 cards in the mid-1980s, the work moved onto early computer databases and, in 1996, to one of the early legal websites in India.
14.09.1989 — a founding milestone
On 28.08.1989, Hon’ble Mr Justice E.S. Venkataramiah, Chief Justice of India, wrote to Mr Aruneshwar Gupta, Hon. Co-Ordinator, Law Information Centre, India, accepting an invitation to release software on Indian Laws processed by the Law Information Centre at the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi, on 14.09.1989 at 4.10 p.m. (The wording of the letter uses the earlier spelling “Centre”.)
The letter was addressed to B-20, Greater Kailash Part I, New Delhi 110048 — a historical address, not the Center’s current office.
History
From 10.01.1982 to the 1996 website, the 1989 software release, and press coverage of those years.
People
The President, Aruneshwar Gupta, and the executive council last published by the society.
Papers & lectures
Speeches, papers and articles published by the Center, from 1976 to 2007.
Articles
Later writings by Aruneshwar Gupta, Senior Advocate, from 2008 onwards, each linked to the original post.
Library & sources
Official courts, bar councils and open legal-information institutes in India and abroad.
From the archive
All papers- Supreme Court of India — Reflective, Restrained and Redeemer
- Address at the inaugural session of the 1st New Zealand Hindu Conference
- Business India, “Making it Easy” — a profile of the Center’s legal information work and the LAWINC ’98 CD-ROM
- Launch of the Center’s first website, inaugurated by Hon’ble Mr Justice M.M. Punchhi
- Release of software on Indian Laws at the Indian Law Institute, accepted by Hon’ble Mr Justice E.S. Venkataramiah, then Chief Justice of India
Dated notices of the Center’s current activities will be added as they are issued.
Articles
All articlesRecent writings by Aruneshwar Gupta, Senior Advocate. Each title opens the original post.