Patna High Court — e-services and the RTI route

The Patna High Court is one of the oldest High Courts in the country, and its website carries the services litigants most often pay clerks to fetch: case status by case number or party, daily cause lists, judgments and office reports. Using them directly is the first saving; knowing the line RTI cannot cross is the second.

• Case status — the Court's own case-information system: hearings, orders, next date
• Cause lists — daily listings by bench and courtroom; see how to read one
• Judgments and final orders — searchable and downloadable
• Office reports and notices — the administrative pulse of a pending matter
• Recruitment and examination results — for the Court's own staff posts

District and taluka courts across Bihar sit on the national eCourts system: track them free at services.ecourts.gov.in by CNR, party name or FIR number — the method is on the eCourts case-status page.

The High Court is a public authority — but applications are governed by the Patna High Court's own RTI rules framed under §28 of the Act, and its practice follows the standard split:

• Judicial side — pleadings, evidence, reasoning, certified copies: these belong to the case process and the copying branch, not an RTI reply
• Administrative side — recruitment, staff records, budget, procurement, infrastructure: reachable, and regularly answered

The Court publishes its RTI disclosures and the e-RTI filing route on its site; applications under its rules travel with the ₹10 fee.

1. Status and expected delivery date of my certified-copy application no. ____ dated ____.
2. The number of certified-copy applications pending beyond the prescribed period in the copying branch, as on date.
3. Pendency and disposal statistics of the Court for the last three years, as reported.
4. Copy of the recruitment advertisement and merit list for the post of ____, advertised ____.

Notice what the four points share: every one asks for a record of process or administration, none asks a judge to explain a ruling. That discipline is the difference between a reply in three weeks and a rejection in three lines.

1. **Track, don't guess** — the case-status page and daily cause list between them replace most trips to the lawyer's clerk
2. **Download orders** the moment they appear; keep a dated folder
3. **Apply for certified copies** of anything operative — portal copies persuade no court
4. **RTI the delay, not the case** — certified-copy registers and file-movement records answer "why is it stuck" better than any oral enquiry

Real example. Kashvi Pathak's certified copy of a final order in a Patna matter sat pending beyond the Court's prescribed period. An RTI for the copying branch's register — her application's date of receipt, disposal timeline, and the count of applications pending beyond period — had the copy delivered in eleven days, with the register entry showing exactly when the clock had stalled.

Not for the judicial decision or the case file — those run through the case process and certified-copy rules. RTI reaches the Court's administration and process records, under the Court's own RTI rules.

Through the e-RTI section on patnahighcourt.gov.in, or to the Court's Public Information Officer — the disclosures on the site name the officer and the format.

Track them free on services.ecourts.gov.in; administrative RTIs go to the district court's CPIO or through the High Court's rules.

₹10 per application, the standard rate, paid as the Court's rules provide.

• eCourts case status — the free national tracker
• How to read a cause list
• High Court of Manipur — RTI and e-services
• The RTI Playbook

• patnahighcourt.gov.in — High Court of Judicature at Patna: case status, cause lists, e-RTI
• services.ecourts.gov.in — eCourts services for Bihar district courts
• RTI Act 2005, §2(h), §28 (High Court rules)

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026. Portal sections and the e-RTI route verified against the Court's site on this run.