Supreme Court case status — 2026 citizen guide

• Case status — sci.gov.in case status: search by case number, diary number, party name or advocate name.
• Daily orders — daily orders page: any order passed in your matter, downloadable as PDF.
• Judgments — judgments by case number, and the free full-text e-SCR search (Electronic Supreme Court Reports) with reported judgments in a clean, citable format.
• Cause list — tomorrow's listings, court-wise and judge-wise, on the sci.gov.in homepage.
• Live hearings — live streaming and webcast.gov.in/scindia for Constitution Bench matters and cases of constitutional importance.
• Caveat status — whether a caveat is on file, from the homepage's caveat display.
• Pendency dashboard — National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) aggregates pending Supreme Court cases by year and category.

None of this needs registration, a login or a fee.

1. Collect the identifiers. The case number looks like “C.A. 1234/2026” (Civil Appeal). The diary number looks like “12345/2026” — it is assigned at filing and stays with the file forever. If someone else filed the case, ask them for either number; it is also printed on vakalatnamas and listing notices.
2. Open the case-status page and choose the search mode you have. Party-name search helps when you only know who is fighting whom — common surnames will return many results, so add the year.
3. Read the status line. The page shows the present stage, the last order date, the next listing date and the bench (court number and judges).
4. Check the daily orders for anything signed but not yet uploaded to the case file — orders usually appear within a day.
5. Search e-SCR for the final judgment once the case is decided; e-SCR gives the full reported text free.
6. Attend or watch a hearing. For in-person attendance, register on SuSwagatam (e-pass) linked from sci.gov.in; for Constitution Bench matters, watch the live stream.

• Pending — filed, not yet decided. It does not mean stuck.
• Ready / to be listed — all formalities complete; waiting for a hearing date.
• Heard, judgment reserved — arguments over; judgment will be uploaded on the judgments page.
• Disposed — decided. The final order and judgment are downloadable the same day.
• Defective — the registry has flagged a filing problem. Cure it through your advocate or e-filing; the case will not move until then.

The PDFs on sci.gov.in are informational. For a certified copy of an order or judgment, or inspection of the case file, apply through the Supreme Court's copying/e-services route (SC-eFM and the e-services menu on sci.gov.in), paying the prescribed court fee. These are judicial records, governed by the Supreme Court Rules — they follow court procedure, not the RTI Act.

The Supreme Court is a public authority under the RTI Act, but only for its administrative records. File at the Court's own portal, rti.sci.gov.in, addressed to the CPIO, Supreme Court of India, Tilak Marg, New Delhi 110001.

• RTI covers — registry staffing and vacancies, pendency and disposal statistics beyond NJDG, infrastructure and budget spending, listing policy and circulation rules, medical and library administration, and records about the Court's own functioning.
• RTI does not cover — case files, judicial notings, orders and judgments. The constitutional position was settled in CPIO, Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal (2019), where a Constitution Bench held that the Chief Justice's office is a public authority, while judicial records remain with court process: see the Agarwal ruling in our case-law database.
• Already public — judges' asset declarations and collegium resolutions are on sci.gov.in under “Assets of Judges” and “Collegium Resolutions”; check there before filing.

If the Court's CPIO does not reply within 30 days, first appeal lies to the FAA in the Registry; a second appeal lies to the Central Information Commission.

• Case not found — freshly filed matters take 24-48 hours to appear; defects hold up diary numbers.
• Old case number, no result — pre-2017 numbering differed; search by diary number or party name instead.
• Order not visible — check the daily-orders page before assuming the worst; certified copy follows later.
• Stream offline — only Constitution Bench and flagged matters stream; regular benches do not.
• Wrong court hall — the cause list updates by evening for the next working day; re-check after 8 pm.

To: The CPIO, Supreme Court of India, Tilak Marg, New Delhi 110001.
Subject: Application under §6(1), RTI Act 2005.

1. Present stage and expected listing quarter of [case/diary no.], with reasons for any delay beyond the norm.
2. Number of similar [matter type] matters pending and disposed in the last 12 months.
3. Norms governing circulation and listing of [matter type], and the officer responsible.
4. Procedure and current fee for certified copies of the order dated [date].
5. Name and designation of the PIO and First Appellate Authority of the Registry.

Adapt it in the AI RTI Drafter — it auto-fills the CPIO block.

Yes. Status, orders, judgments, cause lists and e-SCR are all free, without login.

The Supreme Court's e-services and the SCI Members App provide cause-list alerts; there is no paid SMS status product to buy.

Search by party name and year, or diary number. For truly old records, apply for inspection through the registry's e-services; RTI applies only to administrative records.

No — judgments and orders are judicial records. Download free from sci.gov.in or e-SCR; certified copies come from the copying section.

The Registry's First Appellate Authority first; then the Central Information Commission under §19(3).

• RTI for stuck court cases — the working template
• All eCourts and judicial guides
• Case-law database — 362 curated RTI rulings
• CIC helpline and second-appeal contact
• The RTI Playbook

Last reviewed: 27 August 2026.