Case numbers repeat. Party names are typed by hand. The CNR is the one string in Indian litigation you can rely on completely — this is its shape, its sources and the four things it gets confused with.
A CNR is the 16-character Case Number Record that identifies a single matter in an Indian court. It is allotted when the matter is registered, it stays the same through every transfer, renumbering and appeal stage in that court, and no two matters share one.
A CNR is not a random string. It is built in blocks, and once you can see the blocks you can read one at a glance.
The opening characters identify the state and the specific court establishment in which the matter was taken on the file. Two matters in the same court share this block; two matters in different courts never do.
A running number allotted within that establishment. It has no meaning outside its court and it is not the case number — a matter can carry a low serial and a high case number, or the reverse.
Four digits at the end, being the year the matter came on the file. This is the part people recognise first, and the part that reassures you that you are looking at the right vintage of a repeated case number.
The pattern below shows the arrangement only. It is a placeholder, not a real case and not a real court code — we do not publish establishment codes for particular courts here, because a wrong code is worse than none.
SSEEEE NNNNNN YYYY
SSEEEE — state and court establishment. NNNNNN — the serial allotted in that establishment. YYYY — the year. Sixteen characters in all. The blocks run together with no spaces or hyphens when you write it out; the gaps above are only there so you can see the joins.
People commonly call it a 16-digit number. It is more accurately alphanumeric — letters at the front, digits behind — and a CNR copied by hand goes wrong most often at the boundary between the two.
In descending order of how quickly it works. Most people have it on paper already and do not know what they are looking at.
The acknowledgement given when a matter is taken on the file carries it. If the file was opened in the last few years, this is the fastest place to look and it is usually still in the client folder.
Order sheets and downloaded orders generally print the CNR in the heading along with the case number and the parties. Any order from any hearing will do — the number is the same on all of them.
If you know the case type, number, year and court, look the matter up on the record and read the CNR from its details. This is the reliable route when the paper file is with somebody else.
Search by name in the right court, narrow by year and case type, then take the CNR from the matter you recognise. Approximate going in, exact coming out — which is precisely how a name search should be used.
For a litigant, this is the shortest path. The advocate holds it, and one message saves an hour of guessing between similar names. Advocates: putting the CNR in the first line of every client update ends the question permanently.
Three of these are real and different from each other. The fourth is a typing error that has become a search term.
| Number | What it is | When you get it | Does it change? |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNR | A 16-character identifier for one matter, complete on its own. | When the matter is taken on the file. | No. That is its purpose. |
| Case number | Case type, number and year — meaningful only together with the court. | On registration, after any objections are cured. | Yes. Renumbering and transfer both move it. |
| Diary number | The number given when papers are received, before the matter is properly numbered. | At the moment of filing. | It is superseded — once a case number is allotted, the diary number stops being the working reference. |
| CRN | Not a court identifier. In practice it is CNR with two letters swapped. | Never, from a court. | Not applicable. If a bank or a company gave you a CRN, it belongs to them, not to your case. |
The distinction that costs people the most time is diary number against case number. A matter can sit at the diary stage for weeks if an objection has been raised on the filing — the papers exist, the case does not yet, and searching by a case number that has not been allotted returns nothing at all. The case status page sets out what defective and pending for listing mean in that situation.
सीएनआर (CNR) नंबर सोलह अक्षरों का एक पहचान-नंबर है, जो किसी भी मुकदमे को अदालत की फ़ाइल पर लेते समय दिया जाता है। एक मुकदमे का एक ही सीएनआर होता है और दो मुकदमों का सीएनआर कभी एक जैसा नहीं होता।
केस नंबर (case number) अकेले में अधूरा है — उसके साथ साल और अदालत का नाम बताना पड़ता है, क्योंकि वही नंबर कई अदालतों में मिल जाएगा। सीएनआर अपने आप में पूरा है।
यह नंबर आपको दाखिले की रसीद पर, आदेश-पत्र (order sheet) के ऊपर, या अपने वकील साहब से मिल जाएगा। नाम या केस नंबर से मुकदमा ढूँढ़कर भी उसके विवरण में सीएनआर देखा जा सकता है। एक बार लिख लीजिए — फिर हर बार वही काम आएगा।
Every useful thing software can do with a matter depends on being certain that two mentions of it are the same matter.
Tie a matter to a name and it comes loose the first time somebody types the name differently. Tie it to a case number and it comes loose on renumbering. Tie it to a CNR and it holds: every listing, every order, every change of stage and every next date attaches to the same thread for as long as the matter is alive.
That is why the CNR is the first thing Lawgger asks for. Once it is in, your morning cause list finds the matter regardless of how the name was entered, case tracking follows it through adjournments, and the next date arrives without anybody checking anything.
Enter a CNR and the matter starts reporting for itself: what the last order did, in plain words, and when it comes back.
Dates from a tracked matter feed the statutory clocks, rolled past weekends, gazetted holidays and court vacations. See the limitation calculator.
The same matter, the same thread, for the clerk, the junior and the partner — with tasks and billing attached in the practice suite.
This page carries no live court data and no public lookup. It explains the identifier. Matters live inside the app, behind your login.
Lawgger is software for advocates. It is not a law firm and gives no legal advice.
A CNR, or Case Number Record, is the 16-character identifier given to a single matter in an Indian court when it is taken on the file. It identifies that matter and no other. Unlike a case number, which needs a year and a court beside it to mean anything, a CNR is complete on its own.
Sixteen. The first characters identify the state and the particular court establishment, the middle block is a serial number allotted within that establishment, and the last four digits are the year. People often call it a 16-digit number, but it is alphanumeric — letters at the front, digits after.
No, and yes, depending on what you mean. The CNR of the original matter stays what it was. An appeal is a new matter in a different court, so it is taken on that court's file and receives its own CNR. You end up with two identifiers describing two proceedings, not one identifier that moved.
No. That is the entire point of it. Case numbers repeat freely across courts and years, so Writ Petition 415 of 2024 exists in many places at once. A CNR is allotted so that one string means one matter across the country, which is what makes it safe to build tracking and reminders on.
Search the record by party name in the court where the matter is pending, narrow the results by year and case type, identify your matter, and take the CNR from it. Write it down once. That single step turns every future check from an approximate name search into an exact lookup.
CNR aapke daakhile ki raseed par, aadesh-patra par, ya vakalatnama ke saath lage kaagaz par likha hota hai. Agar wahan na mile to case number aur saal se, ya pakshkar ke naam se apna mukadma dhoondhiye — uske vivaran mein CNR likha milega. Ek baar likh lene ke baad wo kabhi nahi badalta.
In Indian court practice the identifier is CNR. CRN is almost always a transposition of the same three letters, and people searching for a CRN number for a court case are looking for their CNR. If some other body has issued you something it calls a CRN, that is a different number belonging to that body and not a court identifier.
Tribunals such as NCLT, NCLAT and CAT number their matters in their own way, and the identifier you are given may not look like a court CNR. Lawgger tracks tribunal matters by whatever identifier the forum actually uses, so a company petition and a writ petition sit side by side on the same list.
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