In short. A certified copy of a Delhi High Court order is a copy signed and stamped by the court's officer as a true copy, and it is what banks, registrars, foreign authorities and appeal courts usually insist on. Any party can apply, and for a decided case so can others. You can apply online for an e-True copy or at the court's copying counter for a physical copy. Ordinary copies take a few days to two weeks; urgent copies are faster. Apply the day the order is uploaded if you may appeal.
Is this your situation?
- The Delhi High Court has passed a judgment against you and you want to appeal to a Division Bench or the Supreme Court.
- You won a case or got a stay and a bank, sub-registrar or government office wants proof of the order.
- You need a copy of a High Court order to use abroad, for a visa, a foreign court or an embassy.
- Bail has been granted and the jail or trial court needs the order before release.
- You want copies of documents or pleadings from a High Court file, including an old disposed case.
- Your lawyer has told you to apply for an urgent certified copy and you want to know what that involves.
Key points
- A website printout is not a certified copy. It is fine for reading, but appeal courts, banks, registrars and foreign authorities usually want a copy certified by the court.
- Apply as soon as the order is signed and uploaded. The time spent waiting for a copy is excluded from limitation only from the date you apply, not from the date of the order.
- There are two routes. An online e-True copy through the court's portal, or a physical certified copy through the copying counter at the High Court.
- Urgent copies cost more and come faster. Use the urgent route when an appeal, a release from jail or a registration depends on the copy.
- Check every page before you leave or file it. A missing page, a wrong case number or an unclear stamp leads to Registry objections later.
What a certified copy is and why people keep asking for one
A certified copy is a copy of a court record that an authorised officer of the court has compared with the original and certified as true, with a signature, seal and date. A judgment or order of the Delhi High Court is a public document, and Section 75 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (old Section 76 of the Evidence Act) entitles a person with a right to inspect it to a certified copy. Under Section 76 BSA (old Section 77) a certified copy can be produced to prove the contents of the original.
That is why institutions ask for it. A bank officer releasing a frozen account, a sub-registrar acting on a decree, a passport office recording a court's permission or a foreign immigration officer cannot verify a printout from a website. A certified copy carries the court's own assurance that it matches the record.
For your own reading, and for many routine purposes, the copy uploaded on the Delhi High Court's website is enough. Lawyers file plain copies of earlier orders inside a petition all the time. The certified copy matters when the law requires it, mainly for appeals, or when the person you are dealing with refuses anything else.
This is a private firm website, not the Delhi High Court's official website. Applications for copies, fee schedules and the e-True copy portal are on the court's own website, and the court's rules there prevail over anything written here. For a plain overview of the court itself, see our page on the Delhi High Court and the cases it hears.
Certified copy, e-True copy, website copy or dasti order: which do you need?
A website copy is the order or judgment as uploaded on the High Court's website, which you can download free from the case status page. It is good for reading, for sharing with your family and for attaching to correspondence. Our guide on checking Delhi High Court case status shows where to find it.
An e-True copy is an electronic copy issued under the E-True Copy Rules of the High Court of Delhi 2024, notified in April 2024. You apply through the court's portal or app, and the copy is generated from the court's digitised record. The rules say no fee is charged, and they apply to the High Court and the district courts under its supervision. Whether a particular bank, office or foreign authority will accept an e-True copy in place of a stamped paper copy is something to check with them first.
A certified copy in the traditional sense is a paper copy bearing the copying officer's certificate, seal and date, issued through the High Court's copying counter after you apply and pay the copying charges. It is what most people mean when a lawyer says 'get the certified copy'.
A dasti order is different. When an order ends with a line such as 'Order dasti under the signatures of the Court Master', the court has allowed a copy signed by the Court Master to be handed to the party for immediate use, usually so it can be served or acted on the same day. It is common in bail, stay and urgent matters. A dasti copy is meant for that immediate purpose; for an appeal you should still apply for the certified copy.
The rules that govern copies
Delhi High Court Rules and Orders, Volume V Chapter 5
The court's long-standing rules on copies. A party to a pending case can apply for copies of the record; for a decided case, the court's own guidance says anybody can apply for a certified copy of the judgment. The rules also deal with fees, urgent applications and how copies are compared with the record.
E-True Copy Rules of the High Court of Delhi 2024
Electronic true copies from the digitised record, applied for through the official portal or app, or at designated counters if the portal is not accessible. Only one electronic application may be pending at a time. Objections are communicated electronically and the application lapses if they are not cured within ten working days. If no digitised copy exists, the application is treated as one for a physical certified copy.
Section 12, Limitation Act 1963
In computing the time to appeal or seek review, the time 'requisite for obtaining a copy' of the decree or order and of the judgment is excluded. Courts read this as the time from the date of applying for the copy to the date it is ready. Time lost before you apply is not excluded.
Sections 75 and 76, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023
A person entitled to inspect a public document is entitled to a certified copy on payment of the legal fee, and a certified copy may be produced to prove the contents of the document. The old Evidence Act sections were 76 and 77.
How to get a certified copy of a Delhi High Court order, step by step
Ordinary applications follow this sequence. Your lawyer's office normally does it, but a party can apply directly.
Confirm that the order is signed and uploaded
A copy can only be made once the judge has signed the order and it is in the record. Check the case status page on the court's website. Judgments reserved and pronounced later may take a day or more to appear.
Decide what you need copied
Note the case number, the date of the order and whether you need only that order, the full judgment, or other parts of the file such as the petition, a reply or a document. Each item should be described clearly in the application.
Choose the route
For an electronic copy, register and apply on the e-True copy portal. For a physical certified copy, fill in the copy application at the High Court's copying counter, or have your lawyer do it, and mark it urgent if needed.
Pay the copying charges
Physical copies carry a charge per page and a small application fee, with a higher rate for urgent copies. Check the current schedule at the counter or on the court's website. The rules provide that e-True copies are free.
Watch for objections
If the application is incomplete, the case number is wrong or more charges are due, an objection is raised. For e-True copies it comes electronically and must be cured within ten working days. For physical copies, check with the counter or your lawyer's clerk.
Collect and check the copy
Collect the certified copy on the date given, or download the e-True copy. Check the case number, parties, date, number of pages, the certificate and the dates written on it before you leave or file it.
Keep the copy with its application receipt. The dates stamped on the certified copy, showing when you applied, when charges were paid and when the copy was ready, are the dates your lawyer uses to calculate the time excluded from limitation.
Applying through the copying agency at the High Court
In everyday court language the office that issues certified copies is called the copying agency or copy branch. At the Delhi High Court, applications for physical certified copies are made at the copying counter in the court complex, where you fill in an application form giving the case number, the parties, the date of the order and the document wanted. Lawyers' clerks file dozens of these a day and know the forms well, which is one reason most people let the lawyer's office handle it.
The application form asks if you are a party, whether the case is pending or decided, and whether you want an ordinary or urgent copy. Fill in the case number in the exact format the court uses, for example W.P.(C) or CRL.M.C. followed by the number and year. A wrong case type is the commonest reason an application comes back.
Once the copy is ready, it is handed over against the receipt. A copy that runs to many pages is stitched or stapled, with the certificate on the last page and initials or seals on the pages as the court's practice requires. Count the pages against the original order. Missing pages are much easier to fix at the counter than after you have filed the copy with an appeal.
District courts have their own copying agencies at Tis Hazari, Saket, Patiala House, Karkardooma, Rohini, Dwarka and Rouse Avenue. If what you need is a copy of a trial court judgment or order, apply there, not at the High Court. The High Court can only certify its own record.
Getting an urgent certified copy
An urgent certified copy is the same copy, made on priority because you mark the application urgent and pay the higher urgent rate. It makes sense when something depends on the copy within days: an appeal close to limitation, a release from custody where the jail or trial court insists on a certified copy, a registration or mutation fixed for a particular date, or a hearing abroad.
Urgent does not mean instant. The copy still has to be prepared from a signed and uploaded order and compared with the record. Where the order is already uploaded, urgent copies at the Delhi High Court are often ready within a day or two, while ordinary copies may take from a few days to a couple of weeks depending on length and workload. These are typical ranges, not promises.
If even that is too slow, ask the court. In bail and stay matters lawyers routinely ask for the order to be given dasti, so that a signed copy is available the same day. Where an appeal must be filed before a certified copy can be had, the appellate court can be asked to exempt the appellant from filing it for the time being, on an undertaking to file it later. That is the usual route in the Supreme Court and in urgent LPAs.
When Advocate B.K. Singh's office expects an order to be appealed, the copy application is filed on the day the order is uploaded, marked urgent if the deadline is short. The few hundred rupees difference is nothing compared with the effort of explaining a delay to an appeal court later.
Certified copies: typical time and cost
| Type of copy | Typical time | Fee in general terms |
|---|---|---|
| Website copy of order or judgment | Available once uploaded, usually within a day or so of signing | Free |
| e-True copy through the portal | A few working days, if the record is digitised | No fee under the 2024 rules |
| Ordinary certified copy, physical | A few days to 2 weeks | Per-page charge plus application fee; check the current schedule |
| Urgent certified copy, physical | Often 1 to 3 working days once uploaded | Higher per-page rate than ordinary copies |
| Dasti order signed by the Court Master | Same day, when the court directs it | Nil or nominal |
| Copies of pleadings or documents in a file | A few days to 2 weeks; longer if the file is in the record room | Per-page charges; inspection may need a separate application |
| Copies from an old disposed or archived case | 2 weeks or more, depending on retrieval | Per-page charges; the record may have been weeded under retention rules |
Before you apply: a checklist
- Full case number with case type and year, exactly as shown on the court's website
- Names of the parties as in the case title
- Date of the order or judgment you need, and whether you need the whole judgment or one order
- Whether you also need copies of pleadings, documents or the decree sheet
- Your status: party, counsel for a party, or a third party in a decided case
- Identity proof if you are applying in person, and a vakalatnama on record if a lawyer applies for you
- Money for the copying charges, with extra for an urgent copy
- For use abroad: a note of whether the foreign authority wants an apostille or embassy attestation
- A plan to check every page, the certificate and the dates before filing or handing it over
Who can apply, and copies of other papers in the file
A party to the case, or the party's advocate on record, can apply for copies of orders and of documents in the file while the case is pending. For a decided case, the High Court's own guidance says anyone can apply for a certified copy of the judgment. A stranger asking for pleadings or private documents in a file is in a different position, and the court may refuse or require an application showing why the copy is needed.
Judgments and final orders are the easy part. Pleadings, annexures, evidence and documents filed by the other side are also part of the record, and a party can get copies of them, but the application has to identify them precisely, by description and page numbers if possible. If you do not know exactly what is in the file, your lawyer can apply for inspection first and then ask for copies of what is needed.
Copies are also how you rebuild a file when you change lawyers and the old office does not return your papers. Everything filed in the case is in the court record, and the new lawyer can get it from there. Our guide on reading Delhi High Court order sheets helps you work out which orders actually matter before you pay to have them copied.
Certified copies and the deadline to appeal
Most appeals from a Delhi High Court decision have short limitation periods. A Letters Patent appeal from a single judge's judgment to a Division Bench is generally 30 days. A commercial appeal under Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act is 60 days. A special leave petition to the Supreme Court is generally 90 days from the judgment. A review petition in the High Court is generally 30 days. Each of these is a separate rule with its own exceptions, so check the exact period for your case.
Section 12 of the Limitation Act excludes the time needed to obtain a copy of the order appealed from. The catch is that the clock is stopped only from the date you apply. If you wait three weeks before applying, those three weeks are gone. This is why lawyers file copy applications on the day an adverse order is uploaded.
Some forums have their own rules on what must be filed. The Supreme Court ordinarily wants the certified copy of the impugned judgment with the special leave petition, or an application for exemption explaining that it has been applied for but not received. Our guide on going to the Supreme Court against a Delhi High Court judgment covers that route, and our page on the Letters Patent appeal covers appeals within the High Court.
Do not use the copy as an excuse. Courts can condone delay for sufficient cause, but 'the certified copy came late' is examined closely, and the stamped dates on the copy show exactly when you applied.
Which court gives the copy, and why it matters
Only the court that holds the record can certify it. An order of the Delhi High Court is certified by the High Court's copying branch. A judgment of the Saket or Rohini district court is certified by that district court's copying agency, even if the appeal against it is now pending in the High Court. When a criminal appeal or revision is admitted, the High Court usually calls for the trial court record, so copies of trial court papers during the appeal may come from the High Court's file.
Inside the High Court, it makes no difference whether the order was passed by a single judge, a Division Bench, a Joint Registrar on the original side or the Registrar. All are part of the High Court record and are copied through the same system. Our page on the Delhi High Court explains how its benches and the original side are arranged.
Supreme Court orders are certified by the Supreme Court, through its own copying system. Orders of the Central Administrative Tribunal, NCLT, the consumer commissions and other tribunals in Delhi are certified by those bodies. If a document has passed through several forums, list which copy you need from which forum before you start, so nobody wastes a trip to the wrong counter.
Using a High Court order with banks, registrars and foreign authorities
Indian authorities generally accept a certified copy without further formalities. Banks acting on a defreezing order, sub-registrars acting on a decree, MCD or DDA officers acting on a stay, and passport offices recording a court's permission usually ask for a certified copy, sometimes alongside the website copy so they can check it online. Carry both.
For use abroad, a certified copy may need an apostille from the Ministry of External Affairs if the country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, or embassy attestation if it is not. The usual chain is: certified copy from the court, then any state-level authentication the MEA requires, then the apostille. Ask the foreign authority or your lawyer abroad which form they need before you begin. Our guide on how NRIs work with a Delhi High Court lawyer covers the practical side for clients overseas.
In bail matters, release from Tihar, Mandoli or Rohini jail now commonly happens on an electronically transmitted order, but if the trial court or jail insists on a copy, the dasti or certified copy is the answer. Our guide on what happens after bail is granted explains the release steps.
Copies of old, disposed and archived cases
Copies from cases decided years ago take longer, because the file may have been moved to the record room or digitised in batches. Give the case number, the year and the date of the final order. If you do not know the number, search the High Court's website by party name and year first.
Court records are kept for set periods and some parts of disposed files are destroyed after the retention period under the court's rules, while judgments and decrees are kept much longer. If the papers you want were part of a file that has been weeded, the copying branch will tell you. In that case the judgment itself may still be available, even if the pleadings are not.
Plan for delay. For a sale, a succession or a visa where an old High Court order is needed, apply weeks ahead of any deadline. Advocate B.K. Singh's practice with old records is to apply for an e-True copy and a physical copy together where the file may not be digitised, because whichever comes first can be used while the other is awaited.
A made-up example: the Gurugram engineer and the 30-day appeal
Here's a made-up example. Neha, a software engineer living in Gurugram, lost a writ petition before a single judge of the Delhi High Court on the 3rd of the month. The judgment was uploaded on the 5th. Her lawyer advised a Letters Patent appeal to a Division Bench, which generally has to be filed within 30 days.
Her lawyer's clerk applied for an urgent certified copy on the 5th, the day of upload, paid the urgent charges and collected the copy on the 7th. The copy showed the date of application and the date it was ready, so two days were excluded from limitation. The appeal was drafted with the certified copy annexed and filed well within time.
Neha's colleague, in a similar position the year before, had read the judgment on the website, discussed it for three weeks and applied for an ordinary copy only on day 24. The copy arrived on day 33. Only the time after the application was excluded, his appeal was late, and he had to file an application for condonation of delay explaining the gap. The difference between the two was simply when the copy application was filed.
Common mistakes with certified copies
- Relying on a website printout for an appeal. Appeal courts and many authorities want a certified copy or an exemption application.
- Applying late. Only the time after you apply is excluded from limitation, so apply the day the order is uploaded.
- Wrong case type or number. W.P.(C), CRL.M.C., RFA and CS(OS) are different series. A wrong prefix sends the application back.
- Not checking pages. Count pages and check the certificate before you leave the counter or download the copy.
- Asking the wrong court. The High Court cannot certify a district court's judgment. Apply where the record is.
- Forgetting the apostille. A certified copy for use abroad may need MEA authentication before a foreign authority accepts it.
What to do this week
If you have an order that you may appeal or need to act on, check today that it is uploaded and apply for the copy at once, marking it urgent if a deadline is close. Ask your lawyer to file the application if you are not sure of the case type or the form. If any part of the order is unclear, read it with your lawyer before deciding on the next step.
If you need copies of a whole file, list the documents first and apply for inspection if needed. For anything going abroad, find out now whether an apostille is required. Our guide on e-filing in the Delhi High Court explains the portal used for many of these applications, our guide on curing Registry objections helps if the copy or a filing comes back with defects, and our page on cases we handle at the Delhi High Court lists the appeals and petitions that usually follow.
If you would like advice on your papers, or updates on changes in the law and practice, contact Advocate B.K. Singh.
Frequently asked questions
Is a judgment downloaded from the Delhi High Court website valid?
It is a genuine copy of the order for reading and many routine uses, and lawyers file such copies inside petitions all the time. For an appeal, and for banks, registrars or foreign authorities that insist on proof, you usually need a certified copy or an e-True copy. Check what the receiving authority will accept.
How many days does it take to get a certified copy from Delhi High Court?
Ordinary physical copies usually take from a few days to about two weeks, depending on the length of the order and the workload. Urgent copies are often ready within one to three working days once the order is uploaded. These are typical ranges, not fixed timelines.
Can someone who is not a party get a copy of a Delhi High Court judgment?
Yes, for a decided case the court's guidance says anyone can apply for a certified copy of the judgment. Copies of pleadings and documents in a file are more restricted, and a third party may need to show why they need them. The judgment itself is usually also free to read on the court's website.
What is the fee for a certified copy in Delhi High Court?
Physical certified copies carry a per-page charge and an application fee, with a higher rate for urgent copies. The E-True Copy Rules 2024 provide that no fee is charged for electronic true copies. Check the current schedule at the copying counter or on the court's website before applying.
Does the time taken for a certified copy count in the appeal period?
The time needed to obtain the copy is excluded under Section 12 of the Limitation Act, but only from the date you apply until the copy is ready. Any time before you apply counts against you. That is why lawyers apply on the day an order is uploaded.
Can I file an appeal without a certified copy?
In urgent cases, yes, with an application asking the appellate court to exempt you from filing the certified copy for now, on an undertaking to file it later. The Supreme Court and the High Court's Division Benches routinely deal with such applications. You should still apply for the copy at once.
How do I get a Delhi High Court order apostilled for use abroad?
First get a certified copy from the court. Then follow the Ministry of External Affairs procedure for apostille, which may require prior authentication at the state level. Ask the foreign authority whether it wants an apostille or embassy attestation before you begin.
What does order dasti mean in a Delhi High Court order?
It means the court has allowed a copy of the order, signed by the Court Master, to be handed to the party for immediate use, such as serving it or getting a release. It is common in bail and stay matters. For an appeal or long-term record, apply for a certified copy as well.
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, Delhi district courts and tribunals. This guide was written and reviewed by his team.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.
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