NDOH, Cause List, CNR, Part Heard and NOH: Court Hearing Terms Explained

This guide defines the hearing terms, explains adjournment under the Code of Civil Procedure and listing and part-heard procedure in the Supreme Court, and ends with how myKase keeps a firm's hearing dates in one place.

What Does NDOH Mean in Court?

NDOH means Next Date of Hearing. It is the next date fixed for the matter, and the court records it in its order. The case history on the eCourts services also lists the hearing dates of a case, with the judge, the parties and the advocates.

Courts and lawyers also say next date, next hearing, listed on, or put up on, and all of these point to the same date. The Supreme Court's Handbook on Practice and Procedure and Office Procedure (2017) uses the phrases "next date of hearing" and "next date of listing".

When a different hearing date is fixed, the NDOH changes. An adjournment without a future listing date leaves the matter awaiting listing. The eCourts case history keeps the earlier dates, so the diary follows the court's record.

How Do You Find the Next Date of Hearing for a Case?

The most direct route is the official eCourts services portal for district and taluka courts. Searching with the CNR number returns the case record, and the case history lists the hearing dates, the judge and the proceedings. Without the CNR, the Case Status search accepts a case number, filing number, party name, advocate details, FIR number or Act.

The eCourts Services mobile app covers High Courts and District Courts, with an option to select either or both. A QR code scanned in the app pulls up a case instantly, and a calendar view shows the upcoming hearing dates of the cases a user has saved.

The app lists High Courts and District Courts. A Supreme Court matter is followed on the Supreme Court's own cause lists, and a matter taken in appeal carries the identifiers of the appeal, so search with those. Our guide on how to check court case status online covers each system and the identifier it expects.

In myKase, search for a case by party name and add it to the tracking list. Its next date then arrives by email and sits in the calendar view, which integrates with Outlook and Google.

What Is a Cause List and How Is It Different from the NDOH?

A cause list is the daily schedule of cases listed for hearing in a court. It is published for each court and each day, and it names the matters the judge is expected to take up. District-court cause lists are available on the eCourts services, and the eCourts Services app shows cause lists as well.

The NDOH belongs to one case and records its next court-fixed date. The cause list belongs to one court on one day and shows the cases listed before it; inclusion does not guarantee that a matter is reached. For a case dated 12 November, compare the latest order with the cause lists published for that date, including any supplementary list. If the matter is absent, resolve the difference before changing the diary entry or telling the client the hearing has moved.

The Supreme Court's Handbook on Practice and Procedure and Office Procedure (2017) shows how layered these lists are. It describes a daily cause list, an advance list, a weekly list and a supplementary list, and it provides that a supplementary list, if necessary, is issued a day before the date of hearing. A case can therefore appear on the list late.

Check the main cause list, any supplementary list and any listing notice from the court the evening before the hearing and again on the hearing day, and compare the entry with the latest order. myKase generates the cause list for the cases a firm tracks, in the same place as the matters themselves.

What Is a CNR Number and Is It the Same as the Case Number?

The CNR, or Case Number Record, is a unique identification number that the eCourts system assigns to each case for easy tracking. On the district-court portal, enter the 16-character alphanumeric CNR without any hyphen or space.

The case number is the court's registration identifier. Record it with the case type, the registration year and the court, so the matter is distinguished from similarly numbered cases. The CNR is the separate identifier that locates a case in eCourts, and one CNR identifies one case.

Save the CNR from the eCourts case record against the matter and search with it from then on. Without it, the Case Status search finds the matter by party name or advocate.

What Do Listing and Adjournment Mean for Your Next Date?

Listing means a case has been placed on the cause list for a particular date. Confirm the listing for the NDOH on the published cause list; a party can apply for earlier listing.

An adjournment postpones a hearing or its continuation. If a new date is fixed, it replaces the old NDOH; if no future listing date is fixed, the matter awaits listing. The Supreme Court's handbook provides that a three-Judge Bench case adjourned without a direction as to future date of listing is listed as and when the Bench is available. In a civil suit, Order XVII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 lets the court adjourn the hearing if sufficient cause is shown and for reasons recorded in writing. Under Rule 1(2) the court fixes a day for the further hearing and makes an order as to the costs occasioned by the adjournment, or such higher costs as it deems fit.

Order XVII also sets limits. An adjournment may not be granted more than three times to a party during the hearing of a suit, and the fact that a party's advocate is engaged in another court is not a ground for adjournment. In Salem Advocate Bar Association v. Union of India, decided on 2 August 2005, the Supreme Court read the three-adjournment limit down: it does not apply where the circumstances are beyond the party's control, and the court keeps its discretion in extreme cases, with realistic costs where the adjournment was avoidable. These rules apply to civil suits under the Code.

Report the stage of the case with every date, not the date alone. Listing puts a case on the judge's list, and on that date the arguments may finish, begin or wait for a later hearing. Compare the displayed next date with the latest order and the current listing before updating the diary.

What Does Part Heard Mean in Court?

A part-heard case is one where the hearing has begun and remains unfinished. The Supreme Court's Handbook on Practice and Procedure and Office Procedure (2017) says a part-heard case shall be updated and listed before the Bench which heard it in part, unless the case is released from part-heard in writing. If the judge retires or is not available, the case is listed before another Bench as the Chief Justice directs or as per the roster.

For a litigant, the effect on the date is practical. In the Supreme Court, same-Bench listing is subject to release from part-heard and to a judge's retirement or non-availability, so the next date depends on that Bench's availability as well as the registry's calendar. Confirm the assigned Bench and the next listing. For a High Court matter, apply that court's own rules.

What Does NOH Mean in Court?

NOH stands for Notice of Hearing: the notice that tells a party the date, and the court, on which a matter will be heard. It is a different thing from the NDOH. The NDOH is the date fixed for the next hearing, and the NOH is the notice that carries that date to the party.

The Supreme Court's handbook shows the idea in practice: notice of hearing may be sent to a party appearing in person through the usual mode of service, by email or by another permitted mode. Keep every notice of hearing together with the order it relates to, record the date, the court and the stage of the case, and confirm the listing on the court's cause list the evening before you travel or brief a client.

How Do You Keep Track of Hearing Dates When You Have Many Cases?

Keep the court, the case identifier, the next date, the stage and the source of each update together for every matter. A firm carrying dozens of matters across district courts, High Courts and tribunals needs that record in one place.

myKase's litigation tracking brings a firm's cases into one place. It emails the next date of hearing from 10,000+ courts in India, tagged to the matter, and sends automatic alerts for case status updates, so the check before a hearing week starts from an updated record. Dates and to-dos sit alongside the matter, and the official portals remain the record for any single case.

Updates and next dates can be shared with clients from the same record, which our piece on automatic case-status updates for clients covers. For a comparison of tools, our buyer's guide to litigation tracking software buyer questions sets out what to ask a vendor.

Quick reference: what each court term tells you

Conclusion

NDOH is the next date fixed for a case, and NOH is the Notice of Hearing that carries it to a party. The cause list shows the cases listed before a court on one day, the CNR identifies the case in eCourts, and listing, adjournment and part heard explain why a date holds or moves. myKase emails next-hearing dates from 10,000+ courts in India, sends automatic case-status alerts and brings cases and cause lists into one place. Book a Demo to see it on your own matters.

Frequently Asked Questions