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A CNR number is the 16-character Case Number Record that identifies one case on eCourts. You type those characters, with no spaces and no hyphens, to open that case's status, hearing history and orders. If the brief only has a case number, you search by that number and then read the CNR off the history. You do not invent the 16 characters from memory.
This is for the junior or clerk who has a case number on the noting, for example "CS 214 of 2024", and needs the CNR before anyone checks the board. It decodes the characters, says which paper to read first, and sets the CNR beside a case number and a Supreme Court diary number. Portal search modes are in [LINK: ecourts-case-status-guide]. Labels below were checked on 8 October 2026.
Key takeaways
- A CNR is 16 characters. The district and High Court pages want it with no spaces and no hyphens.
- In the CIS 3.0 manual the parts are state, district, establishment, case filing number and filing year.
- The filing acknowledgement and the case-details screen are the reliable places to read it. Copy it. Do not rebuild it from the cause-list number.
- A case number is type, serial and year. A Supreme Court diary number is a different identifier again, generated when an e-filing is submitted.
- In Scafffold you paste the CNR into the chat. The lookup expects four letters followed by twelve digits.
What is a CNR number?#
A CNR number is the identity the Case Information System gives a case, so one string can find it without you first picking a state, a district and a court. Section 1.17 of the eCommittee manual Case Management through CIS 3.0 (first edition, August 2018) calls it the Case Number Record. Section 10.3.1 compares it to a railway PNR: one ID, one case, for the district judiciary that manual describes.
The manual is a training text. Its disclaimer says the references are indicative and not for official or judicial use. The live pages still agree on how you type it. On 8 October 2026 the district home page and the High Court home page both said to enter the 16-character alphanumeric CNR with no hyphen and no space. The app help uses the same words. The manual says "16 digit number" and then uses letters in the state and district codes. The split in the next section is the district scheme in that manual.
How is the 16-character CNR put together?#
Section 10.3.1 of the CIS 3.0 manual prints the parts in this order: state code, district code, establishment code, case filing number, filing year. Its illustration is (JK) (AN) (01) (000638) (2017). Joined, that is JKAN010006382017. Count it. It is 16 characters: four letters, then twelve digits. It is the manual's teaching example. Do not search it, and do not treat it as a matter.
| Positions | Characters | What the manual calls it | The manual's illustration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | 2 | State code | JK |
| 3-4 | 2 | District code | AN |
| 5-6 | 2 | Establishment code | 01 |
| 7-12 | 6 | Case filing number | 000638 |
| 13-16 | 4 | Filing year | 2017 |
The district home page prints a sample in the box, MHAU019999992015: four letters, then twelve digits. It does not label the letters. The 999999 is the form's example, not a filing to open.
Positions 7 to 12 are the case filing number. Positions 13 to 16 are the filing year. The number spoken in court is often the registration number. A matter lodged in one year and numbered in the next will not carry the cause-list serial in positions 7 to 12. [VERIFY: whether any current CIS court puts the registration serial, rather than the filing serial, in positions 7 to 12.] The establishment code belongs to one court. Guessing it from the complex's name can produce a 16-character string for a different case. Copy the CNR from a record.
Scafffold accepts four letters, then twelve digits. The portals' phrase, "16 alphanumeric characters," is wider. [VERIFY: whether every live CNR, including High Court and Supreme Court CNRs, is four letters plus twelve digits, and whether those courts use the same state-district-establishment split.]
Where does a CNR number appear on case papers?#
Look at the filing acknowledgement first, then at the case-details screen. Those are the two places the CIS 3.0 manual actually describes.
Filing acknowledgement. Section 5.3.18 says the filing-counter slip prints the filing number and the CNR, and under CIS 3.0 a QR code as well. Sections 1.18 and 10.8 say a scan opens the case. Write the CNR into the register anyway.
Case details. Sections 9.11 and 10.3.2 say a case-status search displays the CNR so you can note it down. The app help groups the result as Case Details, Case Status, Hearing History and Orders. Write the CNR next to the case number and the court.
Orders. The manual does not say that every order PDF prints the CNR in the header. The Supreme Court record of proceedings of 27 February 2026 in Gummadi Usha Rani v. Sure Mallikarjuna Rao prints "SLP (C) No. 7575/2026", a case number, not a 16-character CNR. On a district order, look for 16 characters with no spaces. If they are absent, take the case number on the order and use the next section. [VERIFY: whether current CIS order templates print the CNR in the header.] Portal copies and certified copies are different documents: [LINK: download-court-orders-ecourts].
Cause list. Item numbers and stages are covered in [LINK: how-to-read-cause-list]. If the list shows only the case number, that is enough to search. It is not enough to guess the CNR.
How do you find a CNR number from a case number?#
Search the case on the court that has it, open the history, and copy the CNR from the case details.
On the eCourts Services app, the app help gives this order.
- Select the court complex.
- Select the case type, using the abbreviation on the paper.
- Enter the case registration number.
- Enter the case registration year, the year in "of 2024," which is not always the year the papers were lodged.
- Press Go and open the case.
- Read the CNR in the case details and write it down. Section 10.3.2 is the source for that display. [VERIFY: the current case-details screen still labels this string CNR.]
If you have a filing number and no registration number, search by filing number, court complex and filing year. Section 5.3 says the CNR is generated at the filing counter, so an unnumbered matter can already have one.
If the search is empty, change one field. Swap filing year and registration year. Choose Both if the form asked you to pick pending or disposed. On a High Court, try the old case-number series. Transfers and the other misses are in [LINK: ecourts-case-status-guide].
High Court services takes a 16-character CNR on the home page when you already have it. Its case-number screens ask for type, number and year. [VERIFY: the High Court history labels the 16-character string as CNR in the same place the district manual describes.] Positions 7 to 12 are the filing number in the manual, and the establishment code is not on a typical cause-list line, so do not rebuild the CNR from the serial on the brief.
How is a CNR different from a case number and a diary number?#
Each one identifies the matter at a different moment, and each one has its own shape.
| Identifier | What it identifies | Shape | Where you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNR number | One case on the eCourts record | 16 characters. CIS 3.0 illustration: four letters, then twelve digits | District home page, High Court home page, Supreme Court CNR page |
| Case number | Type, serial and year, as spoken in court and printed on many orders | Examples of the shape, not real matters: "CS 214 of 2024", "SLP (C) 7575 of 2026" | Cause lists, order headings, and the case-number search |
| Diary number | A Supreme Court e-filing, generated on submit | A number and a year | Diary-number case status. Also accepted, with a registration number, on an interlocutory application |
The Supreme Court E-Filing 3.0 user manual, revised on 18 November 2025, says you get the diary number after you confirm "Submit for e-filing." If it does not appear at once, look again after about 30 minutes in the list of e-filed cases. The same manual accepts a diary number and year, or a registration number, on an interlocutory application, and it searches pending or disposed matters by diary number or by case number when you apply for a copy.
A fresh filing therefore has a diary number before it has a case number such as SLP (C) No. 7575/2026. That SLP string is not a CNR. The menu keeps diary number, case number and CNR apart. Field notes are [LINK: supreme-court-case-status].
[VERIFY: the diary-number case-status form still accepts the diary number after a case number has been assigned. The November 2025 e-filing manual uses both identifiers. The form's own help text did not render in the check on 8 October 2026.]
What usually goes wrong when you hunt for the CNR?#
A hyphen or a space. The district page, the High Court page and the app help want the 16 characters bare. ABCD000000002026 shows the shape only. It is not a case. Do not search it.
A case number in the CNR box. "CS 214/2024" belongs in the case-number search. Read the CNR from the history.
The wrong year. A registration year on a filing search, or the reverse, never reaches the page where the CNR is displayed.
A diary number in the CNR box. Use sci.gov.in for that filing.
The letter O and the digit 0. In the manual's illustration the state and district codes are letters and the rest are digits. If the portal rejects the string, swap the ambiguous character once.
Doing this with Scafffold#
Paste the 16-character CNR into the assistant and ask for the current status. Scafffold pulls the eCourts record: court, case type, status, parties, advocates, filing date, registration number, next hearing date, hearing history and orders. Letters can be upper or lower case. The string must be four letters followed by twelve digits, the CIS 3.0 shape. Any other pattern is rejected. If a High Court or Supreme Court CNR uses a different pattern, use the portal for that string until the check above is resolved.
With only a case number or a party name, ask in the same chat. Search can take free text, or a petitioner, respondent, advocate, judge, court code, status and a filing-date range. Each match includes a CNR. Open it, and copy it into the register. If an order is too long for one answer, ask for that order by date.
The chat does not watch the matter or send a reminder. Ask again with the same CNR when you need a fresh status. Open Scafffold to run the lookup from the matter's papers.
Sources#
- eCommittee, Case Management through CIS 3.0, first edition August 2018, sections 1.17, 1.18, 5.3.18, 9.11, 10.3 and 10.8: PDF. Training material. References are indicative.
- eCourts Services and the app help. Checked 8 October 2026.
- High Court services. Checked 8 October 2026.
- Supreme Court case status: CNR, diary number, case number.
- Supreme Court, E-Filing 3.0 User Manual, revised 18 November 2025: PDF.
FAQ
- What is a CNR number?
- A CNR number is the Case Number Record: the 16-character identity eCourts uses for one case. You type it with no spaces and no hyphens. The district and High Court home pages both ask for it in that form.
- How are the 16 characters split?
- The CIS 3.0 manual, section 10.3, splits them into a state code, a district code, an establishment code, a case filing number and a filing year. Its illustration is two letters, two letters, two digits, six digits and four digits.
- Is a Supreme Court diary number a CNR?
- A diary number is what the Supreme Court e-filing system generates when a filing is submitted. A case number, such as an SLP number, is the registered matter. The Supreme Court site also has a separate CNR search.
- Can I rebuild a CNR from the case number on the brief?
- Do not. The manual's numeric block is a filing number, which can differ from the registration number on a cause list, and the court codes are not something to guess. Search the case, then copy the CNR from the history.
Related
eCourts and case status · Pillar · · 19 min read
How to Check eCourts Case Status by CNR or Party Name
Check eCourts case status by CNR, case number, party name or advocate on the district, High Court and Supreme Court portals, then read the result.
This article is general information about Indian law and legal practice, current as of the "Updated" date above. It is not legal advice. Scafffold is a software company, not a law firm.