In short. Commercial suits in Delhi are filed online now. Claims above Rs 2 crore go on the Delhi High Court's e-filing portal, and smaller ones on the portal notified for the district courts. If your business is about to sue in Delhi, this is what you'll need to get ready. The upload takes about an hour. Preparing the papers takes days, and registry objections can add another week or two. Get Section 12A mediation done first. Then make searchable, bookmarked PDFs and pay the e-court fee online.
Is this your situation?
- A Delhi buyer owes your business Rs 3 lakh or more, and you want to sue in Delhi.
- Your lawyer mentioned the suit will be "e-filed". You'd like to know what that means for you, and what you have to hand over.
- Limitation on your oldest invoice runs out next month. What if the portal goes down?
- There are hundreds of invoices, a few years of emails and a WhatsApp group with the buyer. You can't picture how all of that gets uploaded.
- You filed weeks ago. The registry keeps sending objections and the case still hasn't been listed.
- As a director or partner, you're wondering whether to file it yourself and skip the lawyer.
- You've been sued in Delhi and the written statement has to be e-filed before the deadline.
The quick version: how a commercial suit gets e-filed in Delhi
You upload the plaint, the documents and any applications as digitally signed, searchable PDFs on the court's e-filing portal. You pay court fee online, then clear whatever objections the registry raises, and after that the case gets listed. That's it, in outline. The E-Filing Rules of the High Court of Delhi, 2021 govern the process in the High Court and in the district courts and tribunals under it.
Delhi's district courts have treated commercial suits as a category where e-filing is compulsory. In January 2024 the High Court directed that compulsory e-filing be extended to more civil and criminal case types. On its original side, the Delhi High Court has also moved mostly to electronic filing. Walking up to a counter with a paper file is now the exception. It happens mainly when the portal fails or a document is too big or too fragile to scan. The categories keep growing, so check the current notifications on the court websites before you file.
E-filing doesn't change the law of the suit. Not one bit. You still need Section 12A mediation, and you still need a plaint that meets the amended CPC rules for commercial cases, full disclosure of documents, and the right court fee. What e-filing adds is a layer of format and procedure rules. Ignore them and your first hearing slips by weeks.
First, which Delhi court: district court or High Court?
The portal depends on the court, and the court depends on two things, value and territory. In Delhi, commercial suits valued up to Rs 2 crore go to the District Judge (Commercial Court) in the district courts. Anything above Rs 2 crore goes to the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court on its original side, numbered as CS(COMM). There's been a proposal since late 2025 to raise the district court limit. Check the limit on the day you file.
Within the district courts, territory picks the district. Delhi's commercial courts sit at Tis Hazari, Saket, Karkardooma, Patiala House, Rohini and Dwarka. Section 20 of the CPC lets you file where the defendant carries on business, or where the cause of action arose wholly or in part. That address then points you to one district. Picking the wrong one is a common objection.
Roughly: Tis Hazari has the Central and West districts. Saket has South and South East. Karkardooma takes East, North East and Shahdara, Patiala House takes New Delhi, Rohini has North West and North, and Dwarka has South West. These allocations do change from time to time, so look at the Delhi district courts website before you pick the district on the portal.
Value, for this purpose, is worked out under Section 12 of the Commercial Courts Act. It's the principal you're claiming plus interest up to the date of filing. We explain each court's jurisdiction in more detail on our pages about the Delhi district commercial courts and the Delhi High Court Commercial Division.
Mediation before the portal
For most commercial suits, you can't e-file until you've tried pre-institution mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act. The Supreme Court in Patil Automation v. Rakheja Engineers (2022) made this mandatory for suits filed from 20 August 2022. Plaints filed without it have been rejected under Order VII Rule 11 of the CPC. In Delhi, mediation runs through the Delhi State Legal Services Authority and the district legal services authorities.
It can take up to three months, and two more if both sides agree. At the end you get either a settlement or a failure or non-starter report. That report goes up with the plaint. The registry looks for it. If you're asking for urgent interim relief and skipping mediation, the plaint has to say why it's urgent, and usually an application explaining the urgency goes with it.
The mediation process itself is on our pre-institution mediation page, and in the guide whether mediation is compulsory before a commercial suit.
E-filing a commercial suit in Delhi, step by step
This is how it usually goes for a business suing. Your lawyer handles most of the portal work. You supply the papers and sign the documents that matter.
Register on the portal
Advocates register with their Bar Council enrolment certificate or ID card. If you're filing in person, you register with a government ID and an undertaking that you haven't engaged an advocate. If the application's complete, the rules say the login comes through on the next working day.
Prepare the plaint and everything that goes with it
The plaint sets out the facts, the claim, interest, jurisdiction and valuation. With it go the statement of truth under Order VI Rule 15A, the list of documents and the affidavit of documents that Order XI requires, and the Section 12A report. Add a memo of parties with emails and mobile numbers, the vakalatnama, and any applications, like one for interim relief.
Turn it all into PDFs the portal will accept
Typed documents become OCR-searchable PDFs, ideally PDF/A. Scans are done at 300 DPI in searchable mode. Everything is merged into one file, bookmarked to match the index. No watermark. No password, no annotations.
Sign digitally
The advocate signs the PDFs with a digital signature, and the party does too where needed. No digital signature? Scan the signed printout and upload it, or use Aadhaar based e-Sign. District courts also accept OTP verification on the registered mobile.
Pay the court fee online
You pay e-court fee through the authorised agency or vendor and enter the transaction ID in the e-filing form. On a money suit the fee is ad valorem, a percentage of the claim, under the Court Fees Act, 1870 as it applies in Delhi.
Upload and submit
Pick the court, case type and district, fill in party details, upload the PDF and submit. You'll get a filing number. That isn't the case number. The suit only gets a regular number after scrutiny.
Clear the registry's objections
The registry checks valuation, court fee, signatures, bookmarking, whether it's readable, the mediation report and the documents. Objections come by email or SMS. Fix them and refile fast, because if limitation is close, the time you spent sitting on an objection can be held against you. Don't sit on it.
Listing and summons
Once it's cleared, the suit is listed before the court. If summons are issued, you pay process fee and copies are served. Delhi's commercial courts commonly allow service by email and messaging apps alongside the usual modes.
You'll use the same portal for everything after: replication, applications, affidavits of evidence, written submissions. Note down each filing number and the date and time stamp the portal shows. If a deadline is disputed later, that's your proof of when you filed.
Format rules under the Delhi e-filing rules
| Item | What the 2021 Rules require | Practical note |
|---|---|---|
| Paper size and font | A4; Times New Roman, size 14; line spacing 1.5 | Quotes and indented text go in size 12, single spacing |
| Margins and alignment | Fixed margins as laid down in Rule 6; justified text | Start from the court's template and you won't have to fix margins later |
| File type | OCR-searchable PDF, PDF/A preferred | A phone photo saved as an image PDF gets objected to all the time |
| Scans | 300 DPI in searchable mode | Scan carbon copies and faded invoices at higher quality, and check you can read them |
| Bookmarking | One merged PDF bookmarked as per the master index | Give each annexure its own bookmark; judges read by bookmark |
| File names | Up to 45 characters, few special characters | Don't keep those long names that come with email attachments |
| File size | Up to 100 MB in the High Court, 20 MB in district courts, as notified | Big document sets get split into volumes, or filed with help from the e-Sewa Kendra |
| Security | No watermark, encryption, track changes or annotations | Take the password off bank statements before you merge them |
| Originals | Keep originals; vakalatnama and affidavits for at least two years | The court can ask to inspect originals at any time |
The 4 pm rule, and why it matters for limitation
Under the 2021 Rules, a filing gets the date of the working day it's received electronically within the prescribed time. Online filings after 4 pm, and anything filed on a holiday, count as filed on the next working day. Counter filings are taken until 4 pm on working days. On the last day of limitation, this is the whole ballgame. A suit uploaded at 6 pm may be a day late.
The rules also say, in so many words, that portal failure doesn't extend limitation, however annoying that feels at 3.45 pm with a spinning wheel on your screen. If the portal's down, you're expected to go to a designated counter or file physically. Never plan for the last day. For most money claims you get three years under the Limitation Act, 1963, and mediation time is excluded. But people get the arithmetic wrong all the time. Our guide on the time limit to recover unpaid dues walks through it.
When Advocate B.K. Singh takes on a file close to limitation, he counts the deadline twice, once leaving out mediation time and once including it. Then he tries to get it uploaded at least a week before the earlier of the two dates, so that a failed upload, a bad scan or a portal outage on the wrong afternoon doesn't sink the claim. It's cheap insurance.
Getting the documents ready: disclosure meets the portal
In a commercial suit, amended Order XI makes you file, with the plaint, every document in your power, possession, control or custody that relates to the suit. Helpful or not. Anything you don't file now generally can't be relied on later without the court's leave and a good reason. E-filing doesn't soften that. It just means every one of those documents has to be scanned, made searchable and bookmarked.
Sort first. Scan later. Contract or purchase orders go first. Then invoices in date order, delivery proof, ledger, payments, correspondence, the legal notice and reply, and the mediation report. Number every page. The Order XI affidavit of documents and the list of documents have to match the bookmarks exactly, and when they don't, the registry objects.
Emails, WhatsApp chats, ledgers from your accounting software and portal records are all electronic records. Proving them takes a certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, which replaced Section 65B of the old Evidence Act from 1 July 2024. Get it ready at the filing stage. Papers in Hindi, Urdu or another language usually need English translations. If they're not ready, it's common to file an application asking for time, but the registry will want the translations before the suit gets far. What to collect is listed on our document disclosure page and in the guide on documents needed for a recovery suit.
Time and money: what to budget for an e-filed commercial suit
| Stage | Typical time | Costs (excluding lawyer fees) |
|---|---|---|
| Section 12A mediation | Up to 3 months, plus 2 more if extended | Mediation fee under the 2018 Rules, linked to claim value; confirm the current figure with the legal services authority |
| Collecting and scanning documents | 3 to 10 days, depending on how much there is | Scanning, OCR and digital signature costs |
| Drafting the plaint and affidavits | 1 to 3 weeks | Notary or oath commissioner charges for affidavits |
| E-court fee | Same day, online | Ad valorem on the claim under the Delhi court fee schedule; check the current schedule |
| Upload and filing number | Same day | Charges at the designated counter or e-Sewa Kendra, if you use one |
| Registry scrutiny and objections | A few days to two weeks; longer if objections keep coming back | Nothing, except the time lost |
| First listing | Usually a few weeks after objections are cleared | Process fee for summons |
| Defendant's written statement | 30 days, with an outer limit of 120 days from service | Costs if it's filed late |
| Trial to judgment if contested | Often 18 months to 3 years | Commissioner fees, certified copies |
How the Delhi High Court is different
Suits above Rs 2 crore are filed in the High Court's Commercial Division under the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018, read with the CPC as amended for commercial suits. The High Court runs its own e-filing portal, and the original side registry is strict, sometimes painfully so, about format, indexing and court fee. Expect objections.
A few applications tend to go with an e-filed High Court plaint. One asks for exemption from filing certified, clearer or typed copies of documents, with liberty to file them later. That's routine when old invoices have faded or are in Hindi script. Another asks for exemption from pre-institution mediation where you're claiming urgent interim relief, and explains why it's urgent. If the defendant may have lodged a caveat under Section 148A of the CPC, the paper book has to be served on the caveator in advance before interim relief is taken up.
Urgent matters can be mentioned for early listing under the court's practice directions. The paper book had better be complete and clean when you mention. A judge asked for an ex parte order (one passed without hearing the other side) will be reading your documents on screen. Our page on urgent injunctions covers when an interim order is realistic.
How the Delhi district courts are different
District court e-filing runs on the same 2021 Rules, with each district's own practice on top. Every district has an e-filing administrator. The court complexes have e-Sewa Kendras where advocates and parties can get help scanning, uploading and e-signing. The file size cap is lower than the High Court's, so big document sets go up in parts.
The filing section of the district concerned does the scrutiny. The objections we see most: wrong district, a missing or unsigned statement of truth, no mediation report, court fee short or not linked to the filing, and scans nobody can read. Get the first upload clean and you can often be listed within days, while a messy one can bounce between your lawyer's office and the filing section for weeks. We've seen it.
Hearings in Delhi's commercial courts are in person, though on some dates the court will allow you to appear by video if it sees fit. Orders and next dates are uploaded, and you can follow them on the district court websites and the eCourts services app. Keep the email and mobile number on the memo of parties working. Alerts land there.
An invented example: a supplier, a late upload and a very heavy file
This one is made up. A packaging supplier in Mayapuri is owed Rs 62 lakh by a retail chain based in Noida, which buys and takes delivery at its Delhi warehouse in Okhla. Mediation through the South East district legal services authority ends in a non-starter report. Part of the cause of action arose at the Okhla warehouse and the claim is under Rs 2 crore, so the supplier's lawyer plans to e-file in the district commercial court covering Okhla.
Then the accounts team sends 340 invoices, photographed on a phone, as separate image files, on the afternoon of what the supplier believed was the last day of limitation. Panic follows. The lawyer recalculates. An email acknowledgment from the chain's finance manager, fourteen months earlier, buys more time. Even so, the invoices are rescanned at 300 DPI, made searchable, merged into three volumes under the 20 MB limit, and bookmarked invoice by invoice. The suit goes up at 11 am two days later.
The registry raises one objection. The Section 63 certificate for the email ledger isn't signed. It's signed digitally and refiled the same day, and the suit is listed the next week. Had it been uploaded at 7 pm on a day that really was the last day, it would have counted as filed on the next working day. This is an invented illustration. Every real case turns on its own dates and papers.
What to have ready before you e-file
Pleadings and affidavits
- The plaint, with its valuation and jurisdiction paragraphs
- Statement of truth under Order VI Rule 15A
- List of documents and affidavit of documents under Order XI
- Any applications (interim relief, exemption) with their supporting affidavits
Who's filing, and on whose authority
- Vakalatnama signed by the authorised person
- Board resolution, a letter from the partners, or the proprietor's authority
- Memo of parties with full addresses, emails and mobile numbers
- Your ID document, if you're filing in person
Papers that prove the claim
- Contract, purchase orders and invoices
- Delivery challans, e-way bills and goods receipts
- Certified ledger and bank statements
- The legal notice, proof it was served, and any reply
The filing extras people forget
- Section 12A mediation report
- Section 63 BSA certificate for the electronic records
- E-court fee receipt and transaction ID
- A working digital signature certificate or e-Sign access
If you're the defendant: e-filing the written statement
Sued in a Delhi commercial court? Your written statement, any counterclaim and your affidavits go up on the same portal. You have 30 days from service of summons, which can be stretched with costs to an outer limit of 120 days. After that the right to file is gone, as the Supreme Court held in SCG Contracts v. K.S. Chamankar (2019). Our guide on the 120-day written statement deadline has more.
The 4 pm rule bites here too. A written statement uploaded after 4 pm on day 120 counts as filed on day 121. That can be fatal. Upload with days in hand, and if the registry objects, fix it straight away. When a defence file reaches Advocate B.K. Singh close to the deadline, the first job is a clean, complete upload with a statement of truth and the Order XI denial of documents. Polishing can wait.
Should your business e-file without a lawyer?
- You're allowed to. A director, partner or proprietor can register as a party in person with an ID document and an undertaking that no advocate is engaged. A company usually acts through an authorised officer backed by a board resolution.
- The format isn't the hard bit. Valuation, jurisdiction, Order XI disclosure and the statement of truth are. Mistakes there can't be fixed by refiling, and they can hurt the case later on.
- Small, clean claims are the exception. A tidy summary suit on one invoice and an admitted debt might be manageable on your own. Once there are counter-allegations, dozens of invoices or a request for interim relief, get counsel.
- Go to the e-Sewa Kendra. If you do file yourself, the kendra at the court complex will help with the mechanics. It won't give legal advice.
How e-filing looks for different kinds of business
- MSME suppliers. A micro or small supplier can go to the MSME Facilitation Council first under Section 18 of the MSMED Act, 2006, which has its own online process. If you pick a suit instead, attach your Udyam registration to back the higher interest claim.
- Service firms and startups. Nearly all your evidence is digital. Export emails and chats with headers and dates intact, turn them into searchable PDFs, and get the Section 63 certificate done at the start.
- Lenders and investors. Your files are short (loan agreement, transfer proofs, acknowledgments) but the interest table has to be clear and sit under its own bookmark.
- Large companies. You'll be looking at thousands of pages. Work out the volume splits and bookmarks early, and agree a paginated index with the litigation team before anyone starts drafting.
- Businesses based outside Delhi. A unit in Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram or Faridabad suing in Delhi uses the same Delhi portal. Filing in a UP or Haryana court means following that High Court's e-filing arrangements, and they're not the same.
Mistakes that hold up e-filed commercial suits
- Image-only PDFs. Phone photos saved as PDF can't be searched and often get rejected. Rescan at 300 DPI with OCR.
- Bookmarks that don't match the index. The registry ticks each annexure off against the list of documents. Number pages straight through and bookmark every document.
- Court fee short, or not linked to the filing. One slip in the interest working changes the valuation, and the fee with it. The calculation is explained in our guide on court fee for a recovery suit in Delhi.
- No mediation report. Without it, or a reasoned application for urgent relief, the plaint can be rejected.
- Statement of truth signed only by the lawyer. Someone who knows the facts has to sign it.
- Forgetting the arbitration clause. If there's one in the contract, the defendant can ask for a reference under Section 8 of the Arbitration Act. Read the contract first. That route is covered on arbitrationlawyer.in.
What to do this week
List every unpaid invoice with its due date and circle the oldest one. Find the jurisdiction and arbitration clauses in your orders or contract. Ask accounts for a certified ledger and bank statements. Export the email and WhatsApp threads that matter now, before someone changes phones. If mediation hasn't started, apply this week. How the plaint and statement of truth come together is on our page on drafting a commercial suit.
Keep the originals together in one folder. The court can ask for them at any stage. And the rules expect some originals to be kept for good.
If you'd like your invoices, ledger and correspondence checked and put in order before the suit is e-filed, send them to Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
Do commercial suits in Delhi have to be e-filed?
Mostly, yes. Commercial suits in Delhi's district courts fall in the categories where e-filing is compulsory, and the Delhi High Court has moved its original side largely to e-filing. Paper filing is allowed mainly when the portal fails or the court grants an exemption. Check the latest notification before you file.
Which portal do I use to e-file a commercial suit in Delhi?
Above Rs 2 crore, the Delhi High Court's own e-filing portal. Up to Rs 2 crore, the e-filing system notified for the Delhi district courts. Both the district court and High Court websites link to the current portals.
Can I e-file a commercial suit myself, without a lawyer?
Yes. A party in person registers with an ID document and an undertaking that no advocate is engaged. A company files through an authorised officer. The format you can manage. It's the legal content of a commercial plaint where most self-filed suits come unstuck.
What format do documents need to be in for e-filing in Delhi courts?
OCR-searchable PDF, ideally PDF/A. Typed text on A4 in Times New Roman 14 point with 1.5 line spacing. Scans at 300 DPI. Everything merged into one bookmarked file, with no watermark or password.
How do I pay court fee when e-filing in Delhi?
Online, as e-court fee through the authorised agency or vendor. You enter the transaction ID on the e-filing form. It's ad valorem, based on the claim value. Check the current schedule before you pay.
What happens if I e-file after 4 pm?
Under the Delhi e-filing rules, an online filing after 4 pm on a working day counts as filed on the next working day. Holiday filings get the next working day's date too. On the last day of limitation, that can make your suit late.
Do I have to attach the Section 12A mediation report when e-filing?
Yes, unless you're asking for urgent interim relief and explain the urgency in the plaint and an application. The failure or non-starter report from the legal services authority goes up with the plaint. Without it, the plaint can be rejected.
How long before an e-filed commercial suit is listed in Delhi?
If the filing's clean, anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after it clears scrutiny. Repeated objections can push that back by weeks. Urgent matters can be mentioned for early listing.
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, district and commercial courts in Delhi NCR, and tribunals.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.