A name search finds cases. A court record check decides which of them are really theirs.
A court record check searches public court and tribunal records for cases involving a person or company, then decides which of those records actually belong to them. In India that means the Supreme Court, 25 High Courts, district courts and tribunals. It is not an FIR search, a police clearance or proof of guilt.
LegalCheck by eCourtsIndia runs that check across 32 crore+ court and tribunal records and links every finding to its case. Most reports take one to three minutes. One report costs ₹99, or ₹33 with a subscription.
New accounts get ₹200 in credit with no card. Check yourself first.
Last updated: 25 September 2026
Key takeaways
- A court record check is an identity problem before it is a search problem. Finding records under a name is easy. Deciding which are your person’s is the work.
- A complete check in India reads the Supreme Court, all 25 High Courts, district and taluka courts in 36 states and union territories, and 18 tribunal families. Many checks stop at district criminal courts.
- It cannot see an FIR that has not reached court, masked POCSO and matrimonial records, or sealed files. Pair it with police verification where the role needs it.
- Turnaround runs from minutes to days, driven by data freshness and manual review.
- LegalCheck costs ₹99 per report, or ₹33 with a subscription, as of 25 September 2026. Reading a finished report again costs nothing.
- A match is not guilt. Pending is not conviction. Disposed is a status, not an outcome.
What is a court record check?
A court record check is a search of public court and tribunal records for cases that involve a named person or company, followed by an identity decision about which of those records actually belong to them. The output is a list of matters, each with the court, the case number, the person’s role and the current status.
It also goes by court record verification, a litigation check or a criminal court record check. The job is the same: find the cases, then show they belong to the right person.
India needs a deliberate process because its records are scattered across the Supreme Court, 25 High Courts, district and taluka courts in 36 states and union territories, and specialist tribunals, each with its own portal and spelling habits. Court metadata carries no Aadhaar or PAN, a father’s name is often missing on civil filings, and addresses are free text. Identity has to be built from evidence.
This guide is for people who run checks often: HR and background verification teams, lending operations, SME owners onboarding vendors, and landlords with several properties. For a one-off personal decision, such as a marriage or a tenancy, our background check guide for life decisions walks through each moment.
Which courts and tribunals does a court record check cover?
A complete court record check in India covers four tiers: the Supreme Court, the High Courts, the district and taluka courts, and the tribunals. Most of the volume sits in district courts, but the tribunals are where many company and promoter risks show up.
| Tier | What you typically find there | Records in the eCourtsIndia index |
|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court | Appeals, special leave petitions, writs | 11,88,106 |
| High Courts (all 25) | Writs, appeals, bail, revisions, commercial matters | 5,42,74,178 |
| District and taluka courts (36 states and UTs) | Civil suits, criminal trials, cheque bounce, family matters, accident claims | 27,01,65,612 |
| Tribunals and commissions (18 families) | Insolvency, debt recovery, tax, service, securities, environment and consumer disputes | 44,26,300 |
| Total | 33,00,54,228 |
The 18 tribunal families
The tribunal layer is the part most checks skip. LegalCheck searches 18 tribunal families across 21 live court types, including NCLT and NCLAT, ITAT and CESTAT, DRT and DRAT, NGT, AFT, SAT, TDSAT, APTEL, CAT, CCI, GSTAT, RCT, SEBI orders and the consumer commissions.
Why it matters: a promoter can look clean in every district criminal register while their company sits in insolvency before the NCLT, or a bank’s recovery application runs at a DRT. A check limited to district criminal courts sees neither. For entities, see finding all cases against a company.
What does a court record check find, and what does it miss?
A court record check finds matters that have been filed in a court or tribunal and published in its records. It cannot see anything that has not yet reached a court, or anything the law requires a court to keep hidden.
What it finds
- Criminal cases once a charge sheet or complaint is before a court, plus bail and appeals.
- Cheque-bounce complaints under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. See India’s cheque-bounce litigation crisis.
- Civil suits: money recovery, property and partition, specific performance, injunctions and execution.
- Family and matrimonial matters where the parties are named.
- Recovery and insolvency at the DRT and NCLT, and consumer complaints at district, state and national commissions.
- Tax, service and regulatory matters at ITAT, CESTAT, CAT, SAT and the other tribunals.
For each matter, a good report also gives the person’s role (filed by them or against them), the status and whether orders are on file. As of 25 September 2026, 15,82,35,457 records in the eCourtsIndia index carried at least one order.
What it misses
- An FIR that has not reached court. Until a court takes the matter up, there is no court record to find. That layer belongs to police verification, and we compare the two in court check vs police verification vs FIR search. Where police have published the FIR itself, eCourtsIndia Crime Reports holds 14 lakh+ published FIR PDFs from 13 states and union territories, at ₹1 per PDF.
- Masked names in POCSO and sexual-offence matters. Indian law restricts disclosing a child’s or a sexual-offence victim’s identity, so these records often carry initials or no names.
- Matrimonial and family matters heard in camera or with masked names. Where a court does this, the name is not in the public record.
- Sealed, confidential and juvenile records. Courts restrict these by order or by statute.
- Records a court has not published online. If you know of a missing case, Add a Missing Case fetches it by CNR.
- Anything that is not a court record: identity documents, credit, employment or address.
How does a court record check work, step by step?
Every court record check, manual or automated, runs through five stages: intake, search, identity matching, attribution and the report. When a check goes wrong, it almost always goes wrong at stage three.
1. Intake
You supply full name, a parent or spouse name, a city or district, and an age or year of birth. For a company, the legal entity name and its directors. A relative’s name usually does more work than anything else on the form.
2. Search
The name is searched across every tier, with spelling variants. Registers are typed by hand and transliterated: in one subject from our evaluation set, a single given name appeared six different ways. Search one spelling and you miss the rest.
You can run this stage yourself for free with the eCourtsIndia litigant search, which searches every tier at once. Our litigant search guide explains the filters.
3. Identity matching
This is where a name and a person part company. An exact-phrase litigant search for Rahul Sharma returned 31,276 records in the eCourtsIndia index as of 25 September 2026: 242 in the Supreme Court, 2,910 in the High Courts, 27,673 in district courts and 451 in tribunals. Somewhere in that pile may be your Rahul Sharma. Or none of them may be.
Identity matching tests each candidate against the evidence: the relative’s name on the cause title, the district, the age, co-parties and counsel. LegalCheck also consults the published electoral roll first, because a relative’s name and home district are more reliable from a second, independent register. More on namesakes in same name, wrong person.
4. Attribution
Attribution is the decision to put a record on a person’s report, after stripping out mass cause titles, duplicate procedure and the same dispute at several stages.
In the live example in our LegalCheck API guide, a name that returned 63 court records nationally came down to 9 records covering 8 distinct disputes once geography, mass-party cause titles and duplicate procedure were removed (measured on 15 September 2026). The same test found two men whose names differ by one letter, with the same father’s name and the same year of birth. One lives in Ghatkopar, the other in Jalgaon. Only one owns the cases.
5. The report
A useful report does not collapse all of this into one score. LegalCheck sorts findings into Confirmed, Probable and Possible, lists Excluded records with the reason each was rejected, and states its coverage: what was searched and what could not be checked. Every finding links to a public case page, so you can open the record and check the match yourself.
In our own evaluation set, scored by a separate system, twenty real subjects came out at 9.8 out of 10 with zero false confirmations and one disclosed missed court matter (14 September 2026). The LegalCheck launch post explains the method.
What are the ways to run a court record check in India?
There are four practical routes: search the portals yourself, hire a background verification vendor, instruct a lawyer or local agent, or run an identity-resolved check such as LegalCheck. They differ most on identity resolution and source links, not on the search itself.
| Route | Time | Cost | Identity resolution | Source links | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself: eCourts portals or the free eCourtsIndia litigant search | Minutes per search, hours court by court | Free | You, record by record | Yes, you are at the source | Portals split by tier and state. Litigant search covers every tier |
| BGV vendor with manual QC | Published claims we read range from under 4 hours to 1 to 5 days | Usually a quote. The vendor pages in our benchmark did not publish a price | Database match plus analyst review | The pages in our benchmark did not show a CNR on a match | Varies. The pages in our benchmark named no specific tribunal |
| Lawyer or local agent panel | Depends on how many courts are searched by hand | Professional fee, varies | Strong judgement on records read | Certified copies on request | Only the courts searched |
| LegalCheck | Most reports in 1 to 3 minutes. Very common names take longer | ₹99, or ₹33 with a subscription | Automated, evidence-based, exclusions explained | Every finding links to a public case page | Supreme Court, 25 High Courts, district and taluka courts in 36 states and UTs, 18 tribunal families |
Which route fits? Know the case number? Use the portal or eCourtsIndia case search. Want every record under a name? The free litigant search is enough. Need to decide which records belong to one person, and record why? You need identity resolution. Using a finding in court? Get certified copies through a lawyer.
Choosing a vendor for volume? Our court record check vendor RFP checklist lists the questions worth asking before you sign.
How long does a court record check take, and why do some take five days?
An automated check on a live index finishes in minutes. Checks that depend on periodic refreshes, analyst review or court visits take hours to days. Three things drive the spread: data freshness, manual review and name frequency.
Data freshness
A check is only as current as the data under it. One large background verification vendor states on its court record check page that its court data is updated every 15 days (read 25 September 2026). A case filed, listed or disposed inside that gap will not show until the next refresh.
eCourtsIndia refreshes more than 20 lakh court records every day, on the same index advocates use for their own matters and cause lists.
Manual review
Many vendors add analyst review after the database search. The same vendor page describes matched links with a probability score and manual QC, and states that 90% of its checks are done in 1 to 5 days. Another vendor’s court record verification page describes a search followed by audits for false positives, and states verification in less than 4 hours. Both are their own published figures, read on 25 September 2026. Where a court has no online record at all, some checks send a person to the court registry, which adds days.
Name frequency
A rare name resolves quickly. A name shared by thousands of litigants takes longer, because every candidate has to be attributed or excluded. So most LegalCheck reports take one to three minutes, and very common names longer.
For a named, dated comparison of what vendors publish, see the benchmark in our LegalCheck API post.
How much does a court record check cost in India?
A LegalCheck court record check costs ₹99 per report on pay as you go, or ₹33 with an active subscription, before GST, as of 25 September 2026. You are charged once, when a new check is accepted. Reading the report again is free, and new accounts get ₹200 in credit without adding a card.
| What you do | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Run a new check, pay as you go | ₹99 |
| Run a new check, with an Enterprise subscription | ₹33 |
| Read the status, the report, your list of checks or the models list | Free |
| Replay the same request (idempotent replay) | Not charged again |
| A check fails in processing | Refunded automatically, once |
| Sign up | ₹200 in free credit, no card needed |
The ₹200 signup credit covers two reports: one on yourself, and one on the person or company you actually came to check.
On the seven Indian court-check product pages we reviewed for our API benchmark (read 15 September and re-read 23 September 2026), we did not find a published price. If a price is not on the page, you will need a quote to compare like with like.
For volume, the same check runs through the eCourtsIndia API at the same rate; see the API documentation and API pricing page.
LegalCheck is built and run by eCourtsIndia (Billion Insights Ventures Pvt. Ltd., Noida). The company’s management systems are certified to ISO 9001:2015 (certificate ICI/1144148/26), ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 (ICI/1144151/26) and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (ICI/1144168/26) by International Certification & Inspection UK Ltd., with a registered scope that includes legal and court data aggregation and legal due diligence services. The certificates cover how the company runs, not the outcome of any single report. They are also listed on the About page.
Your first two checks are on us
₹200 in signup credit covers two ₹99 reports: one on yourself, one on the person or company you came for.
How do you read a court record check result?
Read three things for every finding: the person’s role, the case status, and the final order if there is one. Never judge a matter from its title alone.
Status: pending, disposed, convicted, acquitted
Pending means the matter is still open. It says nothing about the merits. Disposed means the court has closed the file, and the ending could be a conviction, an acquittal, a settlement, a withdrawal, a dismissal for default or a transfer. As of 25 September 2026, the eCourtsIndia index held 7,28,00,793 pending and 25,60,96,174 disposed records.
- Convicted: a court found the accused guilty. Check whether an appeal is pending in a higher court.
- Acquitted: the court did not find the charge proved.
- Dismissed or withdrawn: often ended without any decision on the merits.
- Compounded or settled: common in cheque-bounce cases, where the parties settle and the offence is compounded.
Conviction and acquittal usually live in the order text, not in the status field. The case status dictionary explains every status label you will meet on an Indian court record.
Role: filed by, or filed against
A person who filed forty recovery suits and a person with forty filed against them are very different risks. A complainant or victim is not an accused, and in a cheque-bounce case the complainant is the person owed money. The LegalCheck API reports this in a by_role summary: against_subject, brought_by_subject, procedural and unknown.
Bands, and the result that looks clean but is not
Confirmed means strong evidence ties the record to your subject. Probable leaves an identity question open. Possible is shown for awareness, not counted. Excluded was found and rejected, with the reason shown. And when records exist under the name but none can be attributed, the API marks the result UNRESOLVED with a risk score of 0. That zero is not clean. Route it to a person.
Why a structured index makes this possible is covered in building India’s legal data engine. To decode a case number, see CNR number decoded.
What this does not mean
- A match is not guilt. Being named in a case establishes nothing. A person is presumed innocent unless convicted.
- Pending is not conviction.
- Disposed is not cleared. It is a status, not an outcome. Read the order.
- Unresolved, or a score of 0, is not clear. Records exist that could not be attributed.
- A clean report is not a clearance certificate. Nothing was confirmed within the stated coverage. It says nothing about FIRs.
- A report is not identity verification. No Aadhaar, PAN or DigiLocker document is checked.
- A report is not legal advice. If a finding could change a hiring, lending or tenancy decision, read the order, let the person explain, and take advice before acting.
How do you run your first court record check?
Start with yourself, then run the person or company you came for, and read each finding with the case page open. Most of your time will go on reading, not waiting.
- Check yourself first. On a subject you know well, you see how matching, namesakes and coverage work. You may also find a matter you never knew about, such as a civil suit that went ex parte after summons reached an old address.
- Collect the identifiers: full name, a parent or spouse name, city or district, and age or year of birth.
- Run the check at legalcheck.ecourtsindia.com. Most reports are ready in one to three minutes.
- Open every Confirmed and Probable finding. Read the role, the status and the latest order.
- Read the Excluded list to see which alarming records belonged to someone else.
- Ask before you act. Namesakes, settlements and acquittals are common. Give the person a chance to explain.
- Fill the gaps. Add police verification where the role needs it.
Running checks at volume? The LegalCheck API guide covers the report schema and the mapping mistakes to avoid.
Sources and method
- Tier counts, total, pending, disposed and orders-on-file counts: eCourtsIndia index, unfiltered case search with facets, read 25 September 2026.
- “Rahul Sharma” count: litigant search, exact-phrase mode, read 25 September 2026.
- 63 records to 9 records and 8 disputes, and the two electors one letter apart: LegalCheck API guide, live test of 15 September 2026, read 25 September 2026.
- Tribunal families, daily refresh, report times, bands and evaluation: LegalCheck launch post, read 25 September 2026.
- Crime Reports figures: ecourtsindia.com/CrimeReports, read 25 September 2026.
- Prices, free reads, replays, refunds and signup credit: ecourtsindia.com/api/pricing, read 25 September 2026.
- ISO standards and company name: ecourtsindia.com/about-us, read 25 September 2026, and the three ICI UK certificates (9001, 20000-1, 27001), initial registration 3 September 2026.
- Vendor refresh cycle, turnaround and QC statements: AuthBridge Court Record Check page and OnGrid Court Record Verification page, both read 25 September 2026. We have not tested their products.
- No published price on seven vendor pages: LegalCheck API benchmark, read 15 and 23 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is a court record check in India?
A court record check searches public court and tribunal records for cases involving a person or company, then decides which of those records actually belong to them. In India that covers the Supreme Court, 25 High Courts, district and taluka courts, and tribunals. It is not an FIR search or a police clearance. You can run one at legalcheck.ecourtsindia.com.
Can I check court records by name for free?
Yes. Government eCourts portals are free but split by state, district and tier. The free eCourtsIndia litigant search covers every tier in one place. You still have to decide which records, if any, belong to the person you mean. That is what a paid check does.
How long does court verification take?
An automated check on a live index takes minutes. Most LegalCheck reports are ready in one to three minutes, and very common names take longer. Vendor checks with periodic data refreshes and manual review publish turnarounds from under four hours to one to five days, as read on 25 September 2026. The LegalCheck API benchmark has the detail.
How much does a court record check cost in India?
LegalCheck costs ₹99 per report on pay as you go, or ₹33 with an active subscription, before GST, as of 25 September 2026. You pay once when a check is accepted. Reading the report again is free, a check that fails in processing is refunded once, and new accounts get ₹200 in credit. See the pricing page.
Does a court record check show FIRs?
No. A court record check reads court and tribunal records, so an FIR still under police investigation will not appear until a court takes it up. Police verification covers that layer, and published FIR PDFs can be searched separately. We compare the options in court check vs police verification vs FIR search.
Is an online court record legally valid?
An online case page points to the record but is not a certified copy. eCourtsIndia is a private platform, not an official court portal. For any legal proceeding, obtain a certified copy of the order from the court that holds it. Use the case number on the report, explained in our CNR number guide, to request it.
Does a disposed case mean the person was cleared?
No. Disposed is a case status, not an outcome. A disposed matter may have ended in acquittal, conviction, settlement, withdrawal or dismissal for default. Only the final order tells you which. The case status dictionary explains each status label you will see on an Indian court record.
Which tribunals are included in a court record check?
LegalCheck searches 18 tribunal families across 21 live court types, including NCLT, NCLAT, ITAT, CESTAT, DRT, DRAT, NGT, AFT, SAT, TDSAT, APTEL, CAT, CCI, GSTAT, RCT, SEBI orders and the consumer commissions. Many checks skip this layer. To search the company law forums directly, see our NCLT and NCLAT guide.
Important: A court record check, including LegalCheck, is a court-record matching report based on public records and probabilistic identity matching. It is not an identity certificate, FIR search, police clearance certificate or legal advice. A match is not proof of wrongdoing, and a pending case is not a conviction. Verify identity, read the case and give the person an opportunity to explain before acting. Use reports only for a lawful purpose and keep them confidential.
Know which cases are really theirs before you decide. Run the check, read the evidence, then ask better questions.