The call comes at 8:15 AM, forty-five minutes before the first hearing. Your client wants to know what the case is fixed for today. You know it's FD4 — you recorded that at the last adjournment — but you can't immediately recall whether it was fixed for Argument Hearing or Judgement, or whether the opposite pleader filed a time petition at FD3 that pushed the step back. You're pulling this from a WhatsApp message thread and two notebook pages that don't agree with each other.
A hundred active files at any one time is not unusual for a district court pleader at Noakhali. A hundred files without a structured diary system is how matters get missed.
The Filing Date Chain Is the Core of the System
Each case in this template carries a ten-stage date diary: FD1 through FD10, each paired with a Stp (step) field documenting what happened on that date, and an Adj (adjournment) field recording what the matter was fixed for at the next hearing.
The structure is not bureaucratic — it's how Bangladeshi district court proceedings actually move. A matter is called, a step is taken or a petition is filed, a new date is given, and the purpose of the next date is specified in the court's order. The template mirrors that workflow exactly. FD1 with Stp FD1 showing a time petition, Adj FD2 set to Charge Framing, FD2 with Stp FD2 showing the charge was framed, Adj FD3 set to Witness Hearing — that chain, across ten dates, gives you the complete procedural history of a case in one screen.
The Today field with the "Adjournment Date" hint, combined with the For field (Appearance, Arguments, Witness Hearing, Permanent Bail, One-sided Hearing, Appeal Hearing), handles the current status. You're not searching backward through the FD chain to find today's purpose — it's in one field, updated at each adjournment.
Court Assignment Across a Complex Jurisdiction
The Court Name field carries forty-seven options — every court in the Noakhali district hierarchy, from Sessions Judge to ADM, including all the Cognizance Courts geographically mapped to specific thanas (Beg+Sonai, Com+Chor, Chat+Sen, Sdr+Kabir+Su). For an advocate with matters spread across the district, the court name field is also a geography field. Filter for all matters in Trial C (Hatia) and you know what you're taking the ferry for.
Case Type — Original, Appeal, Execution of Decree, Misc Case — determines what procedural steps are possible. An appeal matter doesn't go through Charge Framing; an original doesn't have an Appellant. The On Behalf Of field (Claimant, Defendant, Appellant, Respondent) combined with the party name fields makes the representational structure of each case explicit.
PS C number, Thana and Non GR Case Number handle the dual identification system for criminal matters — the police station case number runs parallel to the court's GR number. Losing track of which is which when a matter comes up in court is a specific, avoidable embarrassment.
The Financial Layer Nobody Formally Tracks
Case Amount (Civil) and Court Fee capture the civil matter valuations and stamp duty paid. These aren't just bookkeeping fields — the case amount determines jurisdiction and court fee is the admissibility record. If a plaint is challenged on valuation grounds, the amount in the record is the reference point.
The Judgement field at the bottom closes the lifecycle. When the matter reaches disposal — by court order, ADR, withdrawal, or NOC — the outcome is documented in the same record that carried the full procedural history. Status = Disposed of Court with a judgement entry is a closed file. Status = Current with FD10 populated means the matter has run through its recorded dates and needs a new date entry workflow.