RTI for court case file: certified copies and records

This page is the hub for a question that arrives daily: the hearing is done, the order is passed, and now you want the papers. Or the case has gone quiet and you want to know why. The answer depends on which half of the court you are asking. A court is a judicial organ and an establishment at the same time, and the RTI Act only opens the second door.

• Get the CNR — the 16-character Case Number Record that the eCourts system gives every case. It unlocks status, hearing dates and orders across the ecosystem.
• Check the court's site for daily orders and judgments. Most High Courts publish orders free the same evening.
• Look at the NJDG dashboard before asking for pendency numbers — the aggregate figures are already public.

If the portal shows what you need, you are finished. An RTI that asks for information already published invites a lawful rejection under §2(j) and §4 and wastes 30 days.

• Apply for inspection of the file at the filing counter. Inspection lets you read the file and mark the pages you need.
• Then apply for certified copies of the marked pages. The fee follows the court's certified-copy schedule, typically a few rupees a page, posted at the counter. Ask for the schedule in writing if it is not displayed.
• Copies normally arrive in one to two weeks. The order sheet usually comes fastest; typed depositions take longer.

This is the route the rules give you for the judicial record, and it is cheaper and faster than any alternative. The classic mistake is skipping it and filing an RTI for the file — which is rejected, costing a month.

When the question is about the institution rather than the case, the RTI Act applies in full:

• Listing — the norms governing cause-list preparation, and why case No. X was not listed on given dates. The most productive RTI a litigant files.
• Copy establishment — the status of your certified-copy application and the reason for delay. Delay in an administrative process is administrative information.
• Pendency — matters pending beyond 5 and 10 years for a case type or bench.
• Establishment — sanctioned and working strength, recruitment rules, infrastructure spending.

To:
The Public Information Officer,
[Name of Court], [City]

Sir/Madam, under section 6 of the RTI Act 2005,
kindly provide:

1. The status of my certified copy application
   No. [NUMBER] dated [DATE], and the date by which
   each stage of processing was completed.
2. The norms governing preparation of the daily cause
   list, and the reason case No. [NUMBER] was not
   listed on [DATES].
3. The pendency of [CASE TYPE] matters as on [DATE],
   with the number pending beyond 5 and 10 years.
4. The number of certified copy applications pending
   beyond the prescribed period in the copying
   establishment.
5. Name and designation of the officer responsible
   for the copying section.

Rs. 10 application fee paid as per the court's RTI rules.

Yours faithfully,
[Name, address, phone]

• Day 30, no reply — first appeal under §19(1) within 30 days to the court's First Appellate Authority, usually a Senior Registrar. Decision within 30 days, extendable to 45.
• Refusal or adverse order — second appeal under §19(3) within 90 days, to the Information Commission the court's rules direct.
• The reply points at the judicial record — then go back to Step 2. The PIO is right, and the counter is your route.

• Filing the RTI for the case file itself — the standard first error, and a guaranteed rejection.
• Asking “why is my case delayed?” as an open question. Ask for the listing norms and the dates the file was marked to each bench.
• Ignoring the CNR number and asking the PIO to find the case for you.
• Not attaching the application number when complaining about the copy counter — without it, question 1 has nothing to bite on.
• Sending the RTI to the wrong court in a transferred or appealed matter. §6(3) rescues you in 5 days, but 5 days are 5 days.

Yes. Public authority under §2(h) includes courts, and the Supreme Court's five-judge bench in Subhash Chandra Agarwal (November 2019) settled it for the highest office in the judiciary. What is limited is the subject matter, not the status.

Notings inside the judicial file form part of the judicial record and travel with it, not by RTI. Administrative notings — on recruitment, listing systems, infrastructure — are disclosable.

No. The ₹10 RTI fee buys information the court holds as an establishment. Certified copies for litigation carry their own schedule of charges.

Send it by registered post to the Registrar with the fee, and after two weeks file the RTI for its status. A refused counter is an administrative failure, which is RTI territory.

We keep per-court guides: Karnataka, Delhi and the rest under All eCourts guides, plus the Supreme Court guide.

The AI RTI Drafter builds this application around your case details, and the First Appeal Builder handles the day-31 appeal.

• All eCourts guides
• RTI for court vacancies
• How to read a cause list
• 25 status-check guides
• 16 rejection-recovery guides
• Full RTI Playbook
• The RTI Playbook book — drafting, appeals and deadlines in one place.

Last reviewed: 27 August 2026. The judicial-versus-administrative split restated against the court-procedure route for inspection and certified copies, and the public-authority position per the Supreme Court's November 2019 five-judge ruling.