Record of the Trial Court should not be referred to as Lower Court Record (LCR) but be referred to as Trial Court Record (TCR): Supreme Court

Recently (February 08, 2024), the Supreme Court (SC) of India, in its order, asked its Registry to stop referring to trial courts as lower courts. The order reads, “It will be appropriate if the Registry of this Court stops referring to the Trial Courts as ‘Lower Courts’. Even the record of the Trial Court should not be referred to as Lower Court Record (LCR). Instead, it should be referred as the Trial Court Record (TCR).” The order was passed by a two-judge bench, Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, while hearing a plea filed by two persons against the judgment of the Allahabad High Court dismissing their appeal challenging conviction and life imprisonment awarded to them in a 1981 murder case. The SC bench listed the matter for hearing on August 06, 2024, and said “The Registry to call for the soft copy of the record of the Trial Court. The soft copies thereof be provided to the learned counsel appearing for the parties.”