What a cause list contains
A cause list is published for each day the court sits, usually the previous evening. High Courts publish one list per bench; district courts publish one per judge. Each entry carries:
- Item number (also called serial number) — the position of the case in that court's list for the day. Item 1 is called first.
- Case number and year — for example W.P. 1234/2025 — and often the CNR.
- Parties — usually the first petitioner versus the first respondent.
- Advocates on record for each side.
- Purpose — why the case is listed: for admission, for hearing, for orders, for compliance.
- Court number and the coram — the judge or bench sitting in that room.
Types of list you will see
- Daily / regular cause list — the main list for the day, published the evening before.
- Supplementary list — cases added after the main list was published, often for urgent mentions or fresh matters. Check it even if your case is not in the main list.
- Advance / weekly list — some High Courts publish the week ahead so advocates can plan.
- Display board — a live feed showing which item number each court is currently hearing, so you know how close your matter is to being called.
How to find your case on it
- Note your case number and year, or your CNR, from the case record.
- Open the cause list for the court and date on the court's website, or search the case on this page — a listed matter shows its next hearing date.
- Search the list for the case number or an advocate's name. High Court lists are long; the search function in the PDF viewer is faster than scrolling.
- Read the court number and item number, and check the supplementary list too.
- On the day, watch the display board for the item number the court has reached.
What item numbers tell you about timing
Courts do not assign clock times to individual cases. The list is taken in order, so item 5 is called early and item 60 may not be reached at all. Lists are also grouped — fresh admissions, then part-heard matters, then regular hearings, for instance — and each group starts a new run of item numbers. If your matter is not reached, it is normally carried over to the next working day or given a fresh date, which appears in the case record afterwards.
Common questions
What is an item number in a cause list?
The item number is the case's position in the order of hearing for that court room on that day. Courts take the list in sequence, so a low item number means an early call and a high one may not be reached before the court rises.
When is the cause list published?
Most courts publish the next day's list by the previous evening, and a supplementary list — of matters added afterwards — later in the evening or early the next morning. Libra's personalised cause list and alerts read both.
My case is not on the cause list. What does that mean?
Either the matter is not listed that day, or it is on the supplementary list rather than the main one. Check the case record for the next hearing date; if a date has passed without the case being listed, the court will usually give a fresh date, which appears in the record.
What is a court display board?
A live board — physical in the court building and online on most High Court websites — showing the item number each court room is currently hearing. It tells you how far the court is from your matter, so you can time when to be present.