How to Obtain a Certified Copy of a Court Order or Judgment in Uttar Pradesh

This article is for educational and legal awareness purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice or solicitation. Please consult a qualified advocate for advice on specific legal matters.

Overview

A certified copy of a court order, judgment, or decree is required for a wide range of purposes — filing an appeal or revision, initiating execution proceedings, mutation of property records, insurance or bank claims, or simply keeping an authenticated record of what a court has directed. A photocopy or a document downloaded from a court website does not serve the same purpose, because it does not carry the authentication that a certified copy carries.

In Uttar Pradesh, certified copies are obtained through two broadly parallel systems: the Computerised Copying Section of the Allahabad High Court (which also serves its Lucknow Bench) for High Court orders and judgments, and the Copying Department of the district and subordinate courts, which functions under the General Rules (Civil), 1957 — the rules framed by the Allahabad High Court under its rule-making power and applicable to civil courts subordinate to it. This article explains what a certified copy is, who may apply for one, the application process, the distinction between ordinary and urgent (“tatkal”) copies, and how the process can be tracked online.

What a “Certified” Copy Means

The Allahabad High Court Rules (Rules of the Court, 1952) define a copy as “certified” when it is certified in the manner provided by Section 76 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 — that is, the officer having custody of a public document (which includes judicial records) makes a copy, together with a certificate written at the foot of the copy stating that it is a true copy of the document, dated and subscribed with the officer’s name and official title, and sealed where the officer is authorised to use a seal. This certification is what gives the copy independent evidentiary value; a plain or downloaded copy does not carry the same weight before a court or another authority.

Who May Apply

Under the General Rules (Civil), 1957, which govern copying at subordinate courts in Uttar Pradesh:

A party to the suit, appeal, motion, or proceeding may apply for a copy of the record, or of any decree, order, judgment, or document in it, at any time — subject to limited restrictions (for instance, a party who has been directed to file a written statement cannot inspect or copy the opposite party’s written statement until filing its own).
A stranger to the case may, after the final decree or order, obtain a copy of the decree, order, judgment, or a document in the record other than an exhibit. Before the final decree or order, a stranger may obtain a copy only for sufficient reason shown to the satisfaction of the judge. A copy of an exhibit cannot be granted to a stranger unless the person who produced that exhibit gives written consent.
An advocate’s registered clerk may present a duly signed application on the advocate’s behalf, and the copy may be delivered to the clerk.
A prisoner may apply through the jail superintendent, or through a friend whose application is later attested by the prisoner through the superintendent.

At the Allahabad High Court, the Computerised Copying Section issues copies of judgments and orders of the High Court and its Lucknow Bench to advocates and litigants, irrespective of whether the applicant is on record in the concerned case.

The Application, Form, and Court-Fee Stamps

At subordinate courts, an application for a copy is made in the prescribed Form No. 27, obtainable from a licensed stamp vendor, and must clearly state the case or record in which the document is found, the specific document of which a copy is sought (judgment, decree, order, deposition, or other paper), and whether the application is ordinary or urgent. The application is presented to the Head Copyist of the court concerned. If the applicant wants the copy sent by post, a stamped and self-addressed postcard (to be notified of any extra charge) and a stamped, addressed envelope must also be furnished.

Copies are prepared on stamped copying paper supplied by the applicant, equal in value to the prescribed copying charge for the document sought. The applicable court fee for the certified-copy application itself is a separate, small fixed charge under the applicable fee schedule — one published district-court fee schedule, for instance, lists the court fee on a certified copy of a judgment, order, or award at ₹10, and on a certified copy of a decree sheet at ₹20. These figures are illustrative of the scale involved; exact current rates are revised from time to time and should always be confirmed with the copying section of the court concerned before filing.

At the High Court, applications for computerised/authenticated copies are similarly filed with the Computerised Copying Section along with the requisite copying fee. Under the High Court’s Rules and Orders (Volume IV, Chapter 17), the copying-agency fee scale for ordinary copies of judgments, decrees, and orders in civil matters is ₹2 per page subject to a minimum of ₹5, with a lower per-page rate for criminal-case judgments; an extra ₹5 per copy is charged where an urgent application is made and priority is actually given to it, as distinct from a copy that happens to be ready the same day in the ordinary course.

Ordinary vs Urgent (Tatkal) Copies

Every copy application must state whether it is ordinary or urgent. This distinction matters both for the fee charged and for the order in which applications are taken up.

Under the General Rules (Civil), 1957, orders made on urgent applications have priority over orders made on ordinary applications, and among applications of the same category, priority follows strictly by date and serial number of the order. Where an urgent application is granted, the copy is, as a rule, delivered not later than the working day next after the day on which the order for the copy was made — a defined turnaround built into the rules for genuinely urgent requests. Ordinary applications carry no such fixed statutory turnaround; they are processed in due course according to the copying section’s workload and the length of the document, and a notice that the copy is ready is placed on the court’s notice board. A copy not collected within fifteen days of that notice is referred back to the judge for orders on its disposal.

An urgent copying fee under the subordinate-court scale is charged at double the ordinary rate for the equivalent document; at the High Court’s Computerised Copying Section, it is the additional flat surcharge described above. In either case, the urgent-fee facility is meant for applications where genuine priority is sought and given — not a general option to obtain any copy faster for a fee.

Where to Apply and How to Track the Application

For an Allahabad High Court judgment or order (including one delivered at the Lucknow Bench), the application is filed with the Computerised Copying Section, and the status of the application — referred to as a “Folio Application” — can be checked online through the High Court’s own eLegalix system (“Search Computerized Copying Folio Application”), which also handles issuance of authenticated copies of digitised case records. The High Court also maintains its main website with case-status and other litigant-facing information.

For orders and judgments of the civil and criminal courts subordinate to the High Court — including district courts, courts of civil judges, and other trial courts across Uttar Pradesh — the application is presented to the Head Copyist of the court where the record is held. If the record is due to be transmitted to the District Court’s record room within three days, the presiding officer of the subordinate court may decline the application and direct the applicant to present it before the District Judge instead.

Separately, the national eCourts High Court Services portal provides litigants across India, including in Uttar Pradesh, with online access to case status, cause lists, and orders for High Courts, and displays certified-copy tracking fields in certain modules such as caveat search. It functions as a general case-information portal alongside the High Court’s own dedicated copying and folio-tracking system.

Practical Points

A certified copy is not the same as a plain photocopy or a PDF downloaded from a court website; only the former carries evidentiary certification and is generally what is required for filing an appeal, revision, execution petition, or a claim before another authority.
Under Section 12 of the Limitation Act, 1963, when computing the limitation period for an appeal, an application for leave to appeal, a revision, or a review, the time requisite for obtaining a certified copy of the decree, sentence, or order (and, where relevant, of the judgment) is excluded — but the Explanation to Section 12 makes clear that any time the court itself takes to prepare the decree or order before an application for a copy is made is not excluded. Applying for the copy promptly after the order or judgment is therefore important wherever an appeal or revision is contemplated.
A stranger to a case cannot obtain a certified copy of a document filed as an exhibit without the written consent of the person who produced it.
The receipt or folio number issued at the time of application should be retained, since it is needed to track the application and to collect the copy once ready.
Copying charges and court-fee-stamp values are revised periodically by notification; an applicant should always confirm the current rate with the copying section of the specific court before filing.

Takeaway

Obtaining a certified copy in Uttar Pradesh follows a defined, rule-based process rather than an ad hoc one — a prescribed application form, a fixed copying-fee scale, a clear ordinary/urgent distinction with its own priority and turnaround consequences, and a further layer of online tracking through the High Court’s eLegalix system and the national eCourts portal. Because the time taken to obtain a copy can be excluded from the limitation period for an appeal under Section 12 of the Limitation Act, 1963, and because copying fees and turnaround depend on which court holds the record, applicants are well served by applying promptly, specifying urgent status where genuinely needed, and confirming current fees directly with the copying section concerned.

Useful Resources

Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is for general legal awareness and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice, advertisement, or solicitation. No reader should act or refrain from acting based on this information without seeking professional legal counsel. Advocate Akhil Singh and this website are not liable for any actions taken based on the content provided herein.