Cause List Checker

Cause List Checker

An internal tool built for searching case details on Punjab and Haryana High Court and checking if you have a hearing date on a specified date. Results are automatically emailed to recipient emails.

Features

Architecture

The application follows a modular architecture with the following components:

Prerequisites

Setup

1. Clone the Repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd cause-list-checker

2. Environment Configuration

Create a .env file in the root directory with the following variables:

# Authentication
AUTH_TOKEN=your_secure_auth_token_here

# Court Website URLs
CASE_SEARCH_URL=https://phhc.gov.in/case-search
CASE_DETAILS_URL=https://phhc.gov.in/case-details
CL_BASE_URL=https://phhc.gov.in/cause-list
CL_FORM_ACTION_URL=https://phhc.gov.in/cause-list/form
CL_JUDGE_WISE_REGULAR_URL=https://phhc.gov.in/cause-list/judge-wise
MAIN_BASE_URL=https://phhc.gov.in

# Email Configuration
EMAIL_RECIPIENTS=recipient1@example.com,recipient2@example.com
SENDER_EMAIL=your_email@gmail.com
SENDER_PASSWORD=your_gmail_app_password
SENDER_NAME=Your Name
SMTP_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587

3. Gmail App Password Setup

To use Gmail for sending emails, you need to set up an App Password:

  1. Enable 2-Factor Authentication:

    • Go to your Google Account settings
    • Navigate to Security → 2-Step Verification
    • Enable 2-Step Verification if not already enabled

  2. Generate App Password:

    • Go to Security → App passwords
    • Select “Mail” as the app and “Other” as the device
    • Enter a custom name (e.g., “Cause List Checker”)
    • Click “Generate”
    • Copy the 16-character password and use it in your .env file

4. Docker Deployment

# Build and start the application
docker-compose up --build

# Run in background
docker-compose up -d --build

The application will be available at http://localhost:3080

API Usage

Health Check

curl http://localhost:3080/health

Response:

{
  "status": "ok"
}

Search for Cases

curl -X POST http://localhost:3080/search/cause-list \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_secure_auth_token_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "search_terms": ["CWP-12345-2023", "Criminal Appeal 789"],
    "date": "15/12/2024",
    "recipient_emails": ["lawyer@example.com", "client@example.com"],
    "case_details": {
      "no": "12345",
      "type": "CWP",
      "year": "2023"
    }
  }'

Request Parameters

Response Format

{
  "message": "Search and notification process queued for 1 date(s)",
  "dates": ["15/12/2024"],
  "queue_size": 1
}

Queue Management

The application now includes a robust queue management system that handles inbound requests asynchronously:

Features

Weekend Date Processing

The system automatically handles weekend date processing:

This ensures comprehensive coverage when searching around weekends.

How It Works

  1. Request Queuing: Search requests are added to an asynchronous queue
  2. Background Processing: The queue processor handles tasks one at a time
  3. PDF Download: The scraper downloads cause list PDFs for the specified date(s) from the Punjab and Haryana High Court website
  4. Case Details Fetching: Simultaneously fetches detailed case information from the court database
  5. PDF Search: Searches through downloaded PDFs for the specified search terms
  6. Email Notification: Sends a formatted email with search results to all recipients
  7. Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling with automatic retries and email notifications for failures

Email Notifications

The application sends detailed email notifications containing:

Development

Local Development Setup

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the application
uvicorn app.server:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 3080 --reload

Project Structure

cause-list-checker/
├── app/
│   ├── config.py              # Configuration settings
│   ├── server.py              # FastAPI application
│   ├── managers/
│   │   ├── pdf_searcher.py    # PDF search functionality
│   │   ├── queue.py           # Queue management system
│   │   └── scraper.py         # Web scraping logic
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── auth.py            # Authentication middleware
│   │   └── search/
│   │       └── cause_list/    # Search endpoints
│   ├── services/
│   │   └── emailer/           # Email service
│   └── utils/
│       ├── error_handler.py   # Error handling utilities
│       └── helpers.py         # Helper functions
├── docker-compose.yml         # Docker configuration
├── Dockerfile                 # Docker image definition
└── requirements.txt           # Python dependencies

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. Gmail Authentication Error:

    • Ensure 2-Factor Authentication is enabled
    • Verify the App Password is correctly set in .env
    • Check that the email and password are correct

  2. PDF Download Failures:

    • Verify the court website URLs are accessible
    • Check network connectivity
    • Ensure the date format is correct (DD/MM/YYYY)

  3. Queue Processing Issues:

    • Check application logs for task execution details
    • Monitor queue status for stuck tasks
    • Verify the queue processor is running

  4. Rate Limiting:

    • The application prevents concurrent searches through queue management
    • Requests are processed sequentially to avoid overwhelming the court website

Logs

View application logs:

# Docker logs
docker-compose logs -f app

# Local development logs
# Check the terminal where uvicorn is running

Queue Status

Monitor queue status through application logs:

Security Considerations

Contributing

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create a feature branch
  3. Make your changes
  4. Add tests if applicable
  5. Submit a pull request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

For issues and questions, please create an issue in the repository or contact the development team.