How to check case status on eCourts

What the eCourts portal is

eCourts is the Government of India's platform for district and subordinate courts, run under the eCourts Mission Mode Project. Its public services site lets anyone look up case status, orders, judgments and cause lists without going to the court.

The district court services are at services.ecourts.gov.in. High Courts on the platform have their own services site at hcservices.ecourts.gov.in. There is also the eCourts Services mobile app.

Case Diary is not part of eCourts and is not run by any court. This guide explains the official portal so that you can use it well.

The search options

The case status menu gives you several ways in. Use the one that matches what you have in hand:

• CNR number – the fastest and most exact. Enter the 16 characters and the captcha.
• Case number – choose state, district and court complex, then case type, number and year.
• Filing number – for a matter that has been filed but not yet registered.
• Party name – choose the court complex, type a party name and the year. Useful when you only know the client's name.
• Advocate name or bar code – lists matters in which an advocate has appeared. Handy for building your own list.
• FIR number – for criminal matters, by police station, FIR number and year.
• Act – lists cases filed under a particular Act and section.
• Case type – lists all pending or disposed cases of a type in a complex.

Step by step, by case number

• Open services.ecourts.gov.in and choose Case Status.
• Select the state, the district and the court complex. If you do not know the complex, try the establishment option.
• Open the Case Number tab.
• Choose the case type from the drop-down. The list is specific to that complex, so the same case type may appear under a slightly different name elsewhere.
• Enter the case number and the year.
• Type the captcha and press Go.
• Click View against the result to open the full case status page.

What the case status page shows

The case status page is the official record of where the matter stands. It usually shows:

• Case type, filing number, registration number and CNR.
• First hearing date, next hearing date and the stage of the case.
• Court number and the judge presiding.
• Petitioner and respondent, with their advocates.
• Acts and sections.
• Case history – a table of past dates, the business on each date and the purpose of the next hearing.
• Interim orders and the final order or judgment, where uploaded, as PDFs.
• Transfer details if the matter has moved between courts.

Reading the next date and stage

The next hearing date and the purpose against it are what most advocates look for. Purposes such as Appearance, Evidence, Arguments or Orders tell you what the court expects on that date.

Remember that the next date shown is only as current as the court's last update. If the court rose early or the board was discharged, the date may be changed later in the day or the next morning. When a date matters, check again the evening before.

Common problems

• Case not found – check the court complex. The same case can sit in a different complex from the one you expect.
• Case type missing – the drop-down is per complex. Look for a near-variant of the name.
• Captcha keeps failing – the captcha is case-sensitive and expires quickly. Refresh it before you type.
• Order not visible – orders are uploaded by the court and sometimes appear a day or two after the hearing.
• Old matters – disposed cases from before computerisation may not be on the portal at all.

Checking many matters

Checking one case on eCourts takes a minute or two. Checking forty every evening takes an hour. That is the real problem for a busy practice. The portal is built for looking up a case, not for watching a diary.

Case Diary reads official eCourts data through a licensed data partner. Once a matter is added, it checks the record daily and tells you when the next date changes or a new order is uploaded. The eCourts portal remains the official source; the app saves you the evening round of lookups.

If you do not yet have the CNRs for your matters, read our guide on what a CNR number is and how to read it.