How to Find a Case by CNR Number
A CNR number is the fastest route to any district or subordinate court case in India. This guide explains what the number means, how to use it on eCourts, and what to do when the system does not return a result.
How-To · Case Search
A CNR number is a 16-character unique identifier assigned to every case filed in a district or subordinate court in India. If you have the CNR, you can look up the case directly, without knowing the court name, the case type, or the filing year. This guide walks through the lookup steps, explains the structure of the number so you can catch typos, and covers the most common reasons a valid CNR still returns no result.
- CNR format: 16 characters, two state-code letters followed by 14 digits.
- Where to look it up: services.ecourts.gov.in, using the CNR / Case Status search.
- Covers: district and subordinate courts only. High Courts and the Supreme Court use separate portals.
- Not finding a result: check the 16-character length and letter/digit positions, then check whether the court is on eCourts.
01What a CNR number is
CNR stands for Case Number Record. The eCourts project, run under the National Informatics Centre, assigns one CNR to each case at filing. The number stays with the case for its entire life, regardless of transfers or year changes.
Because the CNR is unique across all district and subordinate courts in India, it is the single most reliable identifier for a case at that level. A party name or a case number can repeat across courts and years. A CNR cannot.
CNR is for district courts only
The CNR system covers district and subordinate courts under the eCourts platform. High Court and Supreme Court cases use different numbering systems. For a full explanation of what the number encodes and how it differs from diary numbers and case numbers, see what a CNR number is.
02How to read the CNR number
A CNR number has 16 characters in three parts. Understanding the structure helps you spot a typo before you submit the lookup.
- State code (2 letters): the two-letter code for the state, such as MH for Maharashtra or DL for Delhi.
- District and court code (4 digits): identifies the specific district court complex. Each district gets a unique code.
- Sequential number and year (10 digits): the running case number for that court followed by the four-digit year of filing.
A valid CNR looks like this: MHAU010012342023. The first two characters are always letters; the remaining fourteen are digits. If you have anything shorter, longer, or with letters in the wrong positions, the number has a transcription error.
A CNR number has 16 characters: two letters for the state, four digits for the court, and ten digits for the case sequence and year. Any other format is a typo.
03Step-by-step lookup on eCourts
The eCourts services portal is the official way to look up a case by CNR. Here are the steps.
Step 1: open the eCourts services portal
Go to services.ecourts.gov.in. This is the national portal that covers all eCourts-connected district courts. You do not need to select a state or district first when searching by CNR.
Step 2: find the CNR search option
On the home page, look for the tab or button labelled "Case Status" or "CNR Number". The layout of the portal updates periodically, but the CNR search is always prominently placed because it is the most direct lookup method.
Step 3: enter the CNR number
Type the 16-character CNR exactly as it appears on your document. Do not add spaces or hyphens. The field is not case-sensitive for the letter portion, but entering it in uppercase avoids any ambiguity.
Step 4: complete the CAPTCHA
The portal requires a CAPTCHA before each lookup to prevent automated scraping. Enter the code shown and submit.
Step 5: read the result
If the CNR is found, the portal returns the case details: court name, case type, case number, the parties, the current status, the next date, and a link to orders and judgments if they have been uploaded. Take note of the full court name shown, as you may need it for correspondence.
Save the result page
The eCourts portal does not send a confirmation. If you need a record of the case details, save or print the result page before closing it.
04Common problems and fixes
A valid CNR sometimes fails to return a result. Here are the most common causes and what to do.
Typo in the CNR
This is the most frequent cause. Check the state code letters (first two characters) against the state the case is from. Check the total length: it must be exactly 16 characters. The digit 0 (zero) and the letter O are easy to mix up; so are the digit 1 (one) and the letter I. Look at the original document again carefully.
The court is not yet on eCourts
Most district and subordinate courts are on the platform, but coverage is not complete for every taluka or specialised court. If the case is from a court that has not yet been connected, the CNR will not resolve. In that case, you need to contact the court registry directly.
The case was filed before computerisation
Cases filed before a court was computerised may not have been assigned a CNR, or may have one that is not fully indexed yet. You will need to search by party name or case number at the specific court.
Data entry lag
Freshly filed cases can take one to a few working days to appear in the portal after the CNR is issued. If the case was just filed, wait a day and try again.
Portal downtime or session errors
The eCourts portal is a high-traffic government system and goes down occasionally for maintenance. If you receive a server error, try again later or try the mobile app version of eCourts.
CAPTCHA entry error
If the CAPTCHA is unclear, most browsers let you refresh it to get a new one. An incorrect CAPTCHA will return an error before the system even processes the CNR.
05What if the case is not on eCourts
If a district court case genuinely cannot be found by CNR, you have two options depending on what information you have.
Search by party name or case number
The eCourts portal also allows lookups by party name, advocate name, and filing number. These searches require you to select the state and district court first, and they return a list to narrow down rather than a single result. They are slower, but they work when you do not have a CNR or when the CNR does not resolve.
Contact the court registry
For cases that pre-date computerisation or from courts not yet on eCourts, the physical registry is the only option. You will need the case type, approximate year, and at least one party name.
High Courts and the Supreme Court
CNR numbers only apply to district and subordinate courts. High Court cases are tracked through each High Court's own case information system, and Supreme Court cases through the SCI website or the Supreme Court's own case status portal. For research into High Court and Supreme Court judgements, a dedicated judgement search tool is more useful than the court portals. See how legal teams use case search for more on that workflow.
For teams that manage many matters across multiple courts and levels, manual lookups for each case become slow. That is where a litigation management platform changes the workflow. For a comparison of options in that space, see alternatives to Provakil.
06Where Claw fits
Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.
For CNR lookups specifically, the eCourts portal is the right tool and it is free. Claw's case management layer is relevant at the next step: once you have found a case and need to track it over time. Claw connects to 8,457 plus courts including district courts, tribunals, and High Courts, and gives auto-updates on next dates, cause lists, and orders without manually checking each court portal. It also reads a court order and auto-schedules compliance reminders, which is useful once a matter is running.
For teams researching judgements from High Courts and the Supreme Court, Claw's AI-based judgement search covers 30 crore plus judgements across 25 High Courts (1980 to 2026) and the Supreme Court (1950 to 2026), with verified court-ready citations in under 5 seconds. CNR-level district court research is a different need, and the eCourts portal handles it directly.
07Frequently asked questions
What is a CNR number?
A CNR (Case Number Record) is a 16-character unique identifier assigned to every case filed in a district or subordinate court in India under the eCourts system. It stays with the case for its entire life, making it the fastest and most reliable way to retrieve a case at that court level. For a full explanation of what the number encodes, see what a CNR number is.
Where do I enter a CNR number to find a case?
Go to services.ecourts.gov.in and use the CNR Number or Case Status search. Enter the 16-character CNR exactly, complete the CAPTCHA, and submit. You do not need to choose a state or court first when using CNR search.
Why does my CNR number return no result?
The most common cause is a typo in the 16-character number. Check that the first two characters are letters (state code), the total length is exactly 16, and you have not confused the digit 0 with the letter O, or the digit 1 with the letter I. If the number is correct, the court may not yet be on eCourts, the case may pre-date computerisation, or the case may have been filed very recently and not yet indexed.
Does a CNR number work for High Court or Supreme Court cases?
No. CNR numbers are assigned only to cases in district and subordinate courts under the eCourts platform. High Courts use their own case information systems, and the Supreme Court has its own portal. There is no universal CNR equivalent for these higher courts.
Can I look up a CNR number on a mobile phone?
Yes. The eCourts portal is mobile-accessible, and there is also an eCourts Services mobile app available for both Android and iOS. The CNR search works the same way on the app as on the website.
What information does a CNR lookup return?
A successful CNR lookup returns the court name, case type and number, party names, current case status, next hearing date, and links to any orders or judgments that have been uploaded to the portal. Not all courts upload every order, so the portal may show case status without the full order text.