Supreme Court Launches 'Neutral Citation System' In Phased Manner

The Supreme Court has decided to launch and implement the Neutral Citation System- a uniform, reliable, and secure methodology for identifying and citing judgments and orders of Supreme Court in a phased manner with effect from July 6, 2023.

A brain child of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, the system of neutral citations is meant to ensure a uniform pattern of citing all decisions of the High Court and the Supreme Court. CJI Chandrachud announced the launch of this system in February this year

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As per the notice released, the phase-I of neutral citation shall cover the judgments and orders pronounced during the relevant period of 01.01.2014 to 05.07.2023 and 06.07.2023 onwards. It also provides that–
"Neutral citation number of a case shall be allocated in the format – 2023INSC1. I) The first four characters 2023 are the YEAR of pronouncement of judgment, order; II) The abbreviation INSC stands for the relevant court i.e. India Supreme Court, and III) 1 is the in seriatim number of the judgment, order.
Apart from this, CJI Chandrachud had also launched e-ESCR project this year, whereby digital version of all Supreme Court judgments are made available online for free access.