How to Search Court Cases in Kolkata (City Civil, Sessions, High Court and Tribunals)
A plain guide to the courts that sit in Kolkata, and the exact steps to search a case by party name, advocate, case number or CNR on eCourts and on the Calcutta High Court website.
Jurisdiction Guide · Kolkata
Kolkata does not have one court, it has several, and each keeps its own case list, so searching for a case by name alone often means checking more than one place. This guide explains which courts actually sit in Kolkata, and gives you the exact steps to search a case on eCourts and on the Calcutta High Court website, by party name, advocate name, case number, or CNR.
- Civil matters: City Civil Court and the Court of Small Causes.
- Criminal and sessions matters: the metropolitan magistrate courts and the City Sessions Court, housed at Bankshall Court.
- Appeals and original suits: the Calcutta High Court, India’s oldest High Court, on its Appellate Side or Original Side.
- Company, recovery and tax matters: NCLT Kolkata, DRT, and ITAT Kolkata run separate case systems, outside eCourts.
- Search by: CNR number, party name, advocate name, or case number, on eCourts (district courts) or calcuttahighcourt.gov.in (High Court).
01Why a Kolkata case search needs more than one search
If you are trying to find a case in Kolkata, the first problem is knowing where to look. Kolkata has a civil court system, a separate criminal magistracy, a High Court with two sides, and several tribunals, and none of them share one search box.
Civil and criminal are split
A civil suit in Kolkata is not filed in the same court as a criminal case. Civil matters run through the City Civil Court and the Court of Small Causes, while criminal and sessions matters run through the metropolitan magistrate courts and the City Sessions Court, commonly known by the building they sit in, Bankshall Court. A party name search in one system will not surface a matter pending in the other.
The High Court has two sides
The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India, with its principal seat at Kolkata, and it runs an Original Side and an Appellate Side, plus a circuit bench at Jalpaiguri for north Bengal matters. A case filed as an original suit and a case on appeal are tracked differently, which means a search has to specify the right side to find the right record.
Tribunals sit outside the district court system
Kolkata also hosts tribunals such as the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Kolkata Bench, Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRT), and a bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT). These run their own case management systems and case types, separate from eCourts and from the High Court, so a company insolvency matter or a tax appeal will not show up in a district court case search at all.
A different question: district coverage across India
This page is about Kolkata specifically. For how case search works across every district in India, and how coverage is measured nationally, see searching court cases across Indian courts.
02The courts that sit in Kolkata
Before you search, it helps to know which court your matter is likely to be in.
- City Civil Court, Calcutta: the principal civil court for Kolkata, set up under the Calcutta City Civil Court Act, 1953, hearing civil suits within its pecuniary jurisdiction.
- Court of Small Causes: hears small-value civil claims, including a large volume of rent and tenancy disputes in the city.
- Presidency and metropolitan magistrate courts: the criminal magistracy for Kolkata, hearing first-stage criminal cases within the city’s metropolitan area.
- Bankshall Court: the building at 2 and 3, Bankshall Street that houses the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, several metropolitan magistrate courts, and the City Sessions Court (the sessions court for Kolkata), along with special and fast track courts. In everyday use, lawyers in Kolkata often refer to sessions and metropolitan magistrate work simply as a Bankshall matter.
- Calcutta High Court: the oldest High Court in India, with its principal seat in Kolkata, sitting on both an Original Side (for suits filed directly in the High Court) and an Appellate Side (for appeals and writs), plus a circuit bench at Jalpaiguri.
- NCLT Kolkata Bench: hears company law and insolvency matters for the region, separate from the civil and criminal court system.
- Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Kolkata: hears bank and financial institution recovery matters.
- Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Kolkata bench: hears appeals against income tax orders for the region.
Kolkata is not one court, it is a civil court, a criminal magistracy, a High Court with two sides, and a set of tribunals, each with its own case list.
Nationally, India’s eCourts network now covers 9,102 courts, including district and taluka courts, and Kolkata’s civil and criminal courts are part of that network. The High Court and the tribunals each run their own separate case status systems.
03How to search a Kolkata case on eCourts
The City Civil Court, the Court of Small Causes, and the Bankshall Court criminal courts are all searchable through the national eCourts case status portal or its district court services site.
- Go to the eCourts case status page. Open services.ecourts.gov.in or the district court services site, and select West Bengal, then the relevant Kolkata court (City Civil Court, City Sessions Court, or the concerned magistrate court).
- Search by CNR number, if you have it. The Case Number Record (CNR) is a unique 16-character code assigned to every case on eCourts. This is the fastest and most exact way to pull up a case.
- Search by party name, if you do not have the CNR. Enter the petitioner or respondent’s name. Names in Kolkata records can be spelled in more than one way, so try common variants and, where the portal allows, a partial name.
- Search by advocate name. If you know the advocate on record, this narrows results to that advocate’s matters in the selected court.
- Search by case number and year, or by filing number. Use this when you know the case type, number and year, for example a specific suit or a criminal case number.
- Open the case and check the order sheet. Once you find the matter, the case history, next hearing date and orders passed are listed against it.
Company, insolvency, recovery, and income tax matters at NCLT Kolkata, DRT, and ITAT Kolkata are not part of eCourts. Each of these tribunals runs its own case status or e-filing portal, so a Kolkata-wide search means checking eCourts for civil and criminal matters and the relevant tribunal site separately for a tribunal matter.
04How to check a case on the Calcutta High Court website
The Calcutta High Court runs its own case status system, separate from the eCourts district portal, reflecting its Original Side and Appellate Side.
- Go to the Calcutta High Court website. Open calcuttahighcourt.gov.in and select the Case Status section.
- Pick the correct side. Choose Appellate Side or Original Side depending on whether the matter is an appeal or writ, or an original suit filed directly in the High Court. The circuit bench at Jalpaiguri is listed separately for north Bengal matters.
- Search by case number, if known. Enter the case type, number and year for the most direct result.
- Search by party name or advocate name. Enter the petitioner, respondent, or advocate’s name if you do not have the case number. This is the usual route when you only know who the parties are.
- Check the cause list and orders. The same portal shows the daily cause list and, for most matters, copies of orders and judgments once passed.
The Calcutta High Court is also listed on the national eCourts High Court Services site, which links through to the same Appellate Side, Original Side and circuit bench search options.
05Where Claw fits
Checking a Kolkata matter properly can mean three or four separate searches: eCourts for the City Civil Court or Bankshall Court matter, the Calcutta High Court site for an appeal or writ, and a tribunal portal for an NCLT, DRT, or ITAT matter. That is a lot of separate logins and search screens for one client file.
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. On the case management and tracking side, Claw covers 9,102 courts across India, including district courts, the High Courts, tribunals, and the Supreme Court, so a Kolkata matter across the City Civil Court, Bankshall Court, the Calcutta High Court, and a tribunal like NCLT Kolkata can be tracked from one dashboard, with automatic updates, cause lists, and hearing alerts by WhatsApp and email, instead of checking each portal by hand. For citation-grade research on Calcutta High Court judgments specifically, Claw’s case search covers all 25 High Courts, including Calcutta, from 1980 to 2026.
If your work also touches consumer disputes or real estate matters connected to a Kolkata case, those run through separate forums, not the courts covered on this page. See how to search consumer forum cases in India and how to search RERA cases in India. For a broader look at tools that check court records at scale, see the best court record check APIs in India.
06Frequently asked questions
How do I check a Kolkata court case status?
For the City Civil Court, the Court of Small Causes, or a Bankshall Court criminal matter, search on the eCourts case status portal by CNR number, party name, advocate name, or case number, after selecting the relevant Kolkata court. For a Calcutta High Court matter, use the Case Status section on calcuttahighcourt.gov.in instead, and pick the Appellate Side or Original Side. Tribunal matters at NCLT, DRT, or ITAT Kolkata need to be checked on that tribunal’s own portal.
Can I search Calcutta High Court cases by party name?
Yes. The Calcutta High Court case status system, on both its Appellate Side and Original Side, lets you search by petitioner or respondent name, as well as by case number and advocate name. If you know the case number, that search is faster and more exact than a name search.
Which courts are in Kolkata?
Kolkata has the City Civil Court and the Court of Small Causes for civil matters, the metropolitan magistrate courts and the City Sessions Court (housed at Bankshall Court) for criminal and sessions matters, the Calcutta High Court for appeals, writs and original suits, and tribunals including the NCLT Kolkata Bench, a Debts Recovery Tribunal, and an ITAT Kolkata bench.
What is Bankshall Court?
Bankshall Court is the building at 2 and 3, Bankshall Street in Kolkata that houses the city’s criminal judiciary, including the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, several metropolitan magistrate courts, and the City Sessions Court, along with special and fast track courts. Lawyers in Kolkata commonly use "Bankshall" as shorthand for a metropolitan magistrate or sessions matter.
Do I need the CNR number to search a Kolkata case?
No, but it helps. The CNR (Case Number Record) is a unique 16-character code on eCourts that pulls up a case directly. Without it, you can still search by party name, advocate name, or case number and year, though a name search may return more than one result if the name is common.
Are NCLT, DRT, and ITAT cases in Kolkata searchable on eCourts?
No. NCLT Kolkata Bench, the Debts Recovery Tribunal, and the ITAT Kolkata bench each run their own case status or e-filing systems, separate from eCourts and from the Calcutta High Court website. A full check of a Kolkata matter across courts and tribunals means checking eCourts, the High Court site, and the relevant tribunal portal separately, or using a tracking tool that pulls all of them into one view.