Knowledge Base – A LawSikho Initiative

This article has been written to educate the reader about the practical aspects of Special Leave Petitions and to teach them how to draft one, including essential listing and filing procedures. If you are an advocate looking to practice in the Supreme Court of India and/or to write the Supreme Court’s Advocate on Record Examination, you will find this article helpful.  

Introduction 

When I had started out as an associate in a litigation chamber, I was very full of myself. 

I had already worked there for two years as a paralegal, I knew how to draft petitions, my boss loved me. 

So, when I finally got my license to practise, there was no stopping me.

My first day at court. My senior bought me a gown and sent me to take a Passover. 

For the uninitiated, a Passover is a request for the court to keep your case for hearing at the end of all cases (referred to as the “Board”) because your senior is arguing somewhere else, is stuck in traffic, and the like. Well, preferably the first option.

The matter? A CESTAT appeal- I had bothered to pick up the file and read it beforehand to save myself some humiliation, just in case. The judge denied a Passover and asked me what the matter is- I told him to the best of my ability.

He said it’s a statutory appeal so he will be issuing a notice. 

2 years of paralegal work hadn’t prepared me to get a notice on my Day 1, Appearance 1. I mumbled a sincere “much obliged” and walked out. There were some celebrations at the office later on. 

What a great story, right? For a junior, this is literally a dream come true. And, it was. 

But in retrospect, it could have gone wrong in multiple ways, and all that self esteem would have come crashing down in a heartbeat. 

But why? I had read the file? Yes, I knew everything about the substantive laws that governed the case but what about the procedural parts of the Supreme Court?

What if the judge had asked me what is the difference between a statutory appeal and an SLP?

If you are planning on practicing in the Supreme Court, the first question you’ll likely face when speaking to a senior, an AOR, or a judge is: “What is a Special Leave Petition (SLP), and how is it different from general appeals?” 

I, personally, hate that question because it is a loaded gun. You will see what I mean. And, it is important for us to understand this before we get to the drafting bit. 

So, let’s dive in!

What is a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court of India? 

The simplest answer is- it is a petition seeking permission of the Supreme Court to file an appeal. 

An SLP is filed under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. Let us break down the wordings of the Article to understand. This is what Article 136 says:

“Notwithstanding anything in this Chapter, the Supreme Court may, in its discretion, grant special leave to appeal from any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any court or tribunal in the territory of India.”

Here’s what it says:

1. You can approach the Supreme Court challenging any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter
2. This challenge is in the form of a permission (leave) to file an appeal 
3. The Court has the discretion to allow or reject your petition seeking leave 

Interesting, right? But why do we need a special leave to file appeals? The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction so it can entertain appeals directly?

This is what brings us to our million dollar question. 

What is the difference between SLPs and other appeals

Well, there are a few things you need to consider here.

1. The constitutional provisions (Article 132, 133, and 134) that allow you to file appeals in the SC are very narrow and you can only invoke them if very specific conditions are met — such as: 

• if you want to challenge any judgment of a High Court, the High Court has to give you a certificate under Article 134A of the Constitution of India saying, “please go file an appeal in the SC- there’s a substantial question of law of general importance, which has to be determined by the Supreme Court.” That’s very highly unlikely to happen. 
• Or in case of criminal matters, specifically, the High Court must have:. 

a. withdrawn a case to itself and sentenced a person to a minimum period of 10 years, life imprisonment or death; 

b. or on appeal reversed an acquittal and sentenced a person to a minimum period of 10 years, life imprisonment or death

As you can see, the powers are very limited and narrow. What happens if a litigant has been sentenced to 7 years only, and they do not have a certificate from the High Court? Should they have no right to appeal?

Hence, some extra power needed to be vested somewhere. 

2. That power is vested in the Supreme Court under Article 136, aka the power to grant permission to file an appeal. But as you have seen, the power there is not confined to judgments and orders from High Courts alone. But, from any tribunal or court within the territory of India. Hence, the discretionary element. The Court has to be satisfied that it is a case that is fit for appeal. Take away that discretion, and it opens floodgates. 
3. There are also various statutes that permit filing appeals to the Supreme Court as a matter of right. IBC, Consumer Protection Act etc., for example have provisions to grant this right. These appeals are called statutory appeals. 

That is how an SLP is different from general appeals. 

What are the checks on the power under Article 136?

A discretionary power also has a flipside — there are no restrictions. Anybody can file a challenge against anything. So, the Court imposed some restrictions on itself, and decided that SLPs can only be admitted in sparing cases. You cannot come directly to the Supreme Court invoking Art 136 when you do have alternative remedies such as revision/review/appeal etc. There will be no filing restriction as such, but your case will be rejected at the first hearing date in all likelihood. 

Now that brings me back to what really happened in court that day. 

Had my case been an SLP and not a CESTAT appeal, the judge would not have been so inclined to issue a notice. 

He would have grilled me, asked me 10 questions to make me cry (or not), and then probably said- yeah take a Passover and call your senior to court. 

But that doesn’t explain why he did issue a notice, does it?

Because the statute under which I did file an appeal gives me a RIGHT to file an appeal. Unlike SLP which is a mercy, basically. Hence, differential treatment of both. 

Why do you need to learn about SLPs?

At this point, you must be wondering why you are reading this. In the beginning I did mention that there could be two reasons: 

1. You want to practice in the Supreme Court ;
2. You are writing the AOR exam and want to drink down everything available on the internet because honestly, there isn’t much. 

On both counts, you need to know all these procedural nuances without there being any trace of a manual or guide. But why?

SLPs are the most filed petitions in the Supreme Court. Take an approximate number of around sixty thousand (60,000) SLP filings per year according to the SCC observer. You cannot be an AOR if you cannot draft and file the most filed petition.

The demand and supply ratio is also interesting. At present, there are around four thousand (4,000) AORs in the Supreme Court. Given the exponential increase in litigation and filing every year, the present set of AORs are not enough to handle the huge demand that there is. 

Hence, there is a huge market for anyone who clears the examination. Not to mention other petitions like writs, transfer petitions etc. 

Plus, if you are writing the examination, an SLP question worth 20-25 marks is a must in the Drafting paper. You’ll also get conceptual and procedural questions in the Practice and Procedure paper for 10-15 marks, at the very least. 

How to draft a Special Leave Petition

Coming to the most important part. How do you draft this petition?

This is the only draft for which there is an official format, and they want you to stick to it like the Holy Grail. Do not even change para numbers. If you do, in real life- your case doesn’t get listed till you make it right, and in the examination- deducted marks. 

Here’s the format and some instructions [in bold, square brackets] for your reference. Drafted bits are in red and italics: 

F O R M – 28 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA 

CIVIL/CRIMINAL [CHOOSE AS APPLICABLE] APPELLATE JURISDICTION SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION 

(Under Article 136 of the Constitution of India R/w Order XXI/XXII [XXI for Civil and XXII for Criminal] of the Supreme Court Rules) 

S.L.P. (Civil/Criminal- Choose As Applicable) No. _____/[Insert Year]

BETWEEN Position of parties

	In the Court/ in this Tribunal from Court whose order the Petition arises	In this Court
[Here insert the name/names of the petitioner]	[what was their position in the court/tribunal below? Petitioner/Respondent/Appellant?]	Petitioner
VERSUS
[Here insert the Petitioner/ name/names of Respondent/ Respondent respondent Appellant]	[what was their position in the court/tribunal below? Petitioner/Respondent/Appellant?]	Respondent

*Hide borders in draft.

To 

Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India and His Companion Judges of the Supreme Court of India. 

The Special Leave Petition of the Petitioner most respectfully showeth :- 

1. The petitioner/petitioners above named respectfully submit/s this petition seeking special leave to appeal against the judgment/order of [Here specify the Court/Tribunal against whose order the leave to appeal is sought for together with number of the case, date of the order and the nature of the order such as allowing or dismissing the matter or granting or refusing the interim order etc.] 

[A drafted para should look like this:]

The petitioner/petitioners above named respectfully submit/s this petition seeking special leave to appeal against the judgment/order of the Hon’ble High Court of New Delhi in WP(C) No. XX/2024 whereby the Hon’ble High Court has rejected the petition for grant of mandamus against the State of Delhi to ban all construction related activities for a week prior to and after Diwali. 

2. QUESTION OF LAW: 

The following questions of the law arise for consideration by this Hon’ble Court: [here set out the questions of law arising for consideration precisely]

[Questions of law are points of determination/issues which affect the rights of the parties involved. 

These questions may have been brought for the first time so that they can be settled or they could have been decided previously by this Court and understood wrongly by the Court/Tribunal below which has decided your case. Hence, you are here raising them again for clarification.

Here’s how drafted questions will look like:]

1. Whether the Hon’ble High Court has passed the impugned judgment without considering that continuation of construction activities will be violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India?
2. Whether the Hon’ble High Court has erred in law by not giving adequate weight to settled judicial precedents that recognize the duty of the State to prioritize the right to a clean and healthy environment over economic activities such as construction?

3. DECLARATION IN TERMS OF RULE 3(2)[Civil] / 2(2)[Criminal]

The petitioner states that no other petition seeking leave to appeal has been filed by him against the impugned judgment and order. 

4. DECLARATION IN TERMS OF RULE 5[Civil] / 4[Criminal]

The annexures produced along with the SLP are true copies of the pleadings/documents which formed part of the records of the case in the Court/Tribunal below against whose order the leave to appeal is sought for in this petition. 

5. GROUNDS 

Leave to appeal is sought for on the following grounds. [Here specify the grounds precisely and clearly] 

[Grounds are reasonings provided to questions of law that you have posed. For example, in our case, we have posed a question that whether the High Court has committed an error in not putting a ban on construction-which will violate Article 21. 

How it will violate Article 21 has to be explained through legal reasoning. The reasoning is that the continuing construction will further deteriorate the AQI, which will lead to health problems and possible deaths in immunosuppressed individuals. This is in violation of the Right to Life aka Article 21. The drafted ground will look like this:]

1. Because the Hon’ble High Court has erred in not issuing a construction ban which is the cry of the hour. The AQI of Delhi is already at ____, which is severely hazardous, and is causing respiratory illnesses in a significant part of the population. The continuation of construction activities will increase the AQI and add to the health problems being faced by children, older citizens and immunosuppressed individuals. This in itself is in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. However, there is a high likelihood that severe respiratory problems can also cause deaths and the State is duty bound to take preventive measures in such extreme situations. The impugned judgment of the Hon’ble High Court has completely ignored these ground realities and is liable to be set aside. 

6. GROUNDS FOR INTERIM RELIEF: [here specify briefly the grounds on which interim relief is sought]

[Interim reliefs are reliefs sought for a short duration of time, and can be extended from time to time by order of the court. If you are not seeking any interim relief, do not omit this para. Simply put “NA” after the heading. But here are the common interim relief grounds which you can use in all petitions along with specific grounds where applicable:]

1. Because the petitioners have a good prima facie case and will face irreparable loss and injury if the interim relief is not granted. 
2. Because the balance of convenience lies in favour of the Petitioners as against the Respondent (which in this case will be the State). A drastic rise in AQI will be difficult to bring down causing severe loss to the petitioner herein, as against taking preventive measures like a short construction ban. 

7. MAIN PRAYER [Here set out the main prayer]

In view of the aforementioned facts and circumstances this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to:

1. Grant Special Leave to appeal against the Impugned Order dated [●] passed by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi at New Delhi in WP(C) No. XX/2024;

[This should be the only prayer you seek in an SLP. Be mindful of this- your petition is to seek permission to file an appeal only.]

2. Pass such other order(s) as it may deem fit in the interest of justice, equity and good conscience. 

8. INTERIM RELIEF [Here set out the interim prayer] 

In view of the aforementioned facts and circumstances this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to:

1. Issue a ban on all construction activities in the State of Delhi during the pendency of these proceedings
2. Pass such other order(s) as it may deem fit in the interest of justice, equity and good conscience. 

And, that’s it! Now, you have learnt how to draft a Special Leave Petition from scratch. 

This is a skill worth one (1) lakh INR, at the very minimum! 

With practice, it will take you around 2-3 hours max to draft an entire SLP. Ideally have 4-5 good questions of law and grounds. Lengthy petitions do not always mean good petitions. 

And, in the examination hall, you will not have more time than to draft 4-5 questions of law and grounds, anyway. 

Once your SLP is admitted, which means the Court has granted you permission to file an appeal, you do not have to file a fresh appeal. Your SLP automatically gets converted into an appeal. You will see that the nomenclature has been changed from SLP No. to Civil/Criminal Appeal No. in the case status. 

Now, let us address some concepts related to filing and listing of SLPs. 

What should be included in your SLP paperbook?

The petition shall be in Form No. 28 which is appended to the Supreme Court Rules, 2013. You do not need to file a separate application for seeking interim relief in the SLP. The interim prayer forms a part of your petition 

The copies of the petition/documents which are part of the record of the lower court or tribunal and are relevant to the SLP shall be marked as Annexures to the petition numbering them as Annexure 1,2, 3 and so on and you must also indicate the page number of the document next to the annexure.

The documents filed in annexures shall be arranged in chronological order and the documents shall be indexed separately and not collectively 

The annexures to the petition shall not be accepted unless such annexures are certified copies of documents. Even uncertified copies of documents may be accepted as annexures if such copies are affirmed to be true copies upon affidavit.

The English version of the relevant provisions of the Constitution, statutes, ordinances, rules, regulations, bye laws, orders, etc. referred to in the impugned judgment or order shall be filed as Appendix to the Special Leave Petition. 

Every petition shall be supported by the affidavit of the petitioners or one of the petitioners as the case may be or by any person authorised by the petitioner in which the deponent shall state that the facts stated in the petition are true and the statement of dates and facts furnished along with the SLP are true to his knowledge and/or information and belief.

Other than the petition that you have drafted, here is what your SLP paperbook should have:

• Cover Page
• Record of Proceedings 
• Index 
• Office report on limitation 
• Proforma for first listing
• Synopsis 
• List of Dates
• Impugned Order/Judgment
• SLP 
• Affidavit of Petitioner
• Annexures
• Applications, if any 
• Filing Memo 
• Appendix
• Vakalatnama 

What is the filing process of an SLP?

This is the physical filing process:

Stage One

Once you have prepared the paperbook of your main case, you have to present the same to a Dealing Assistant at the Filing Counter. The Dealing Assistant shall do the following on presentation of the main case:

1. in case of advocate on-record, advocate authorized in that behalf or his registered clerk, identify the person filing the case on production of identity card; or in respect of a party in-person, identify him/her on basis of Aadhar Card or any other permissible identification;
2. enter in the computer complete description of the first petitioner/ applicant/appellant and first respondent/non-applicant and names of their advocates;
3. check vakalatnama and affidavit duly signed and executed;
4. generate Diary number and stamp the date of filing;
5. cancel the court fee stamps by punching out the figure-head so as to leave the amount designated on the stamp untouched or by locking eCourt fee;

Stage Two

On receipt of the case, the Assistant will do the following: 

1. enter in the computer details of the case, if any, out of which the main case has arisen.
2. enter F.I.R. details, in case of criminal matters;
3. check whether any similar or link case has been filed or disposed of on the basis of filing memo;
4. check whether any caveat has been lodged in the case;
5. enter data as regards additional parties;

Stage Three

After the details have been entered, your file is moved to scrutiny. On receipt of a main case, the Scrutiny Assistant will do the following:

1. scrutinize the case as to whether it conforms with the Rules and practice of the Court or is defective;
2. count the value of court fees stamps affixed on the memo of appeal, petition or interlocutory application, miscellaneous application, affidavit, vakalatnama or document separately;
3. extract subject category of the case (please refer to Part IV of the Supreme Court Rules for subject category identification);
4. generate limitation report;
5. if the case is found to be defective, the scrutiny Assistant shall enter the defects in the computer and notify them to enable the advocate on-record or the party, as the case may be, to remove the defects within a period of twenty eight days in aggregate;
6. If the case is not found to be defective and is found to be in order, the scrutiny Assistant shall open the file in respect of Part-I and Part-II documents.
7. place such cases, as he considers to be not maintainable for any reason, before the Branch Officer, who shall place the same before the senior officers for orders;
8. where the dealing Assistant is of the opinion that court fee payable in a main case cannot be determined for any reason or a question as regards thereto arises, he shall place the matter, through senior officers, before the Registrar/Taxing Officer, who may, in his discretion, require the parties to produce the relevant records to enable him to decide the question of court fee.

Stage Four

1. On receipt of the case from the Scrutiny Assistant, the Branch Officer or any other superior officer shall make verification/confirmation of –

1. scrutiny of the main case;
2. subject category and sub-category of the main case;
3. limitation;
4. tagging on the basis of identical, similar or linked case;
5. section and provision(s) of law under which the case is filed.

2. If the main case along with interlocutory applications (if any) conforms to the requirements of the Rules and practice and procedure, the main case shall be registered.
3. The officer shall give directions to enter the said details in the computer.

Removal of defects & refiling 

If there are defects notified in a given matter, an advocate has to remove the defects and refile the case. For example, if there are errors in pagination of annexures, the pages are to be freshly printed, renumbered and refiled.  When the main case is re-filed after removal of the defect(s), it is placed before the Scrutiny Assistant, and the same is checked and registered, provisionally, if the defect(s) notified has been removed. This is however done subject to verification and confirmation by a superior officer.

Consequent upon registration of a main case, all papers and documents forming part of the case file are scanned/digitized. An Office Report, if required, is prepared in the defect-free main case and case file is then sent to the concerned Court Master of the Bench on its first listing.

If in case the defects are not removed till ninety days from the date of communication of the defects, the matter is then listed with the Office Report on default before the Judge in Chambers for appropriate orders. The Judge in Chambers may grant further time for removal of defects.

If the defects are removed after 60 days from the date of notifying the defects, an application seeking condonation of delay in re-filing the main case has to be filed. The matter will then be listed before the Judge in Chambers under Order V Rule 2(32) of the Rules.

Where a period for removal of the defect(s) has been stipulated by the Judge in Chambers, the record of the case shall be sent to the concerned Dealing Assistant. The concerned person has to get the defect(s) rectified and certified by the Section Officer within the stipulated period, failing which the case is then sent for listing before the Judge in Chambers for orders on default.

If the defect(s) is removed, the case is then sent for listing before the Court for admission.

In case you are e-filing, you have to prepare a pdf copy of your petition and upload it on https://efiling.sci.gov.in/login .Here’s a video tutorial that you can watch to understand the e-filing process. 

The petitioner is required to file at least three spare sets of the petition and of the accompanying papers. 

What is the preliminary scrutiny conducted by the Registrar ?

We have already seen the filing process and the scrutiny conducted by the court’s registry after a case is physically or virtually filed in the Supreme Court.

There is a checklist for scrutiny and processing of the SLP that you can find here Modified Check List for Scrutiny and Processing of Main Cases

You must also know that no SLP shall be entertained by the Registry unless it contains a statement as to:

• Whether the petitioner has filed any prior petition for special leave to appeal against the impugned judgment or order and if there has been a prior petition, then you must mention the result of that petition, which has to be duly supported by an affidavit of the petitioner or his advocate. 

What is the period of limitation to file an SLP?

An SLP can be filed within 90 days from the date of the judgment that you are seeking to challenge or within 60 days from the order of the HC refusing to grant the certificate of fitness. 

What happens once your case is listed?

There is no straightjacket answer to this. The first hearing that happens once you file your SLP is called an admission hearing. The bench can do any of the following things:

• issue notice to the Opposite Party in this hearing inviting them to file their reply or;
• reject the SLP if there are no merits in the case. 

Once, the reply is received, then on further hearing (called “After Notice” hearing), the leave may be granted or the SLP gets rejected. In some cases, the Court grants leave after a series of hearings. 

If your leave is granted/SLP admitted, it is converted into an appeal. The hearings continue thereafter till the matter is decided on merits. 

What are the oral arguments and submissions to be made while arguing a Special Leave Petition?

The Bench usually hears admission matters only for a few minutes.

This hearing is mostly about why a notice should be issued, so focus on that. You have to have your best grounds ready to persuade the Supreme Court to issue notice to the other side. You should be thorough with the Synopsis that you have drafted, as the Court will likely be looking at that while hearing your arguments.

After notice, you should have a detailed argument structure ready:

• Why should your leave to appeal be granted? If there are any maintainability issues, address them 
• Do you have any precedent in your favour where in similar circumstances SLP was admitted?
• Relevant facts and their corresponding annexures should be marked 
• Legal grounds and precedents supporting them should be brought up 

What is the evidence and documentation that needs to be presented during the hearing of the Special Leave Petition ?

You must know that the Supreme Court pays more attention to the legal aspects and the evidence comes under its review in very rare cases when:

• There have been procedural errors by lower courts.
• The High Court has drawn wrong inferences from the evidence.

Also, you must remember that the SLP should be confined only to the pleadings before the Court or tribunal whose order is challenged. 

If you want to produce any document which was not part of the records in the Court below, then you have to make a separate application for the purpose citing reasons for not producing it in the lower court or tribunal and the necessity for its production in the Supreme Court and seek leave of the Supreme Court for producing such additional documents. 

What are the main grounds for admitting an SLP? 

The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal, so when you are filing a petition, seeking leave to appeal, you cannot base your petition on factual grounds and consideration. While filing an SLP, you need to raise substantial questions of law. 

What is a substantial question of law?

• It is a question that affects the rights of the parties involved in the dispute 
• It is a question which is either being raised before the Court for the first time or it has been decided before and the court(s) below have applied the principles incorrectly 

Substantial questions can be:

• Interpersonal between the parties 
• Of general public importance 

Some may require constitutional interpretation. 

If your SLP raises these issues, then it will likely be admitted. You must have exhausted all remedies available to you, however. For example, if you are aggrieved by an order of the Trial Court, you should first move the concerned High Court and avail your remedy of revision/appeal, before knocking the doors of the Supreme Court. 

How does the Supreme Court evaluate whether to accept a SLP? 

As we have already discussed, the Supreme Court has a discretionary power to accept an SLP. This power shall be exercised after reviewing the petition to identify the following:

• The questions involved in the SLP
• The grounds raised in the SLP
• The gravity of the alleged error in the lower court’s/tribuanl’s decision
• The broader implications of the case
• Whether alternative remedies have been exhausted 
• Whether the SLP has been filed within limitation

What are the strategies for successful admittance of SLPs?

We have seen earlier that the judges might only spend a few minutes on your case and it is important to make them count.

You must know that it is a discretionary power and the judges are looking for reasons to dismiss petitions and to not admit them. 

You must highlight your questions of law and inform the Court about whether it involves a constitutional angle or is there a conflicting judgment passed by different High Courts or is there a procedural error?

Support the questions with your grounds and facts of your case and be clear about them

Place the case laws on record in support of your contention that makes it difficult for the judges to dismiss your SLP

If there is any question asked by the judge, answer it and then move on to your next argument that shows clarity of thoughts and merits in your case.

What are the grounds for rejection of the Special Leave Petition (SLP)?

Just like a recipe can go wrong, a SLP can also face rejection on various grounds.

The following are most of the common grounds for rejection of the SLP, which you must avoid, if you can a favourable result:

• The SLP does not disclose any question of law or grounds mentioned earlier
• If the SLP has been filed beyond limitation
• The important documents are missing in your petition
• The petitioner is not being transparent and hiding material facts from the court
• If petitioner have not exhausted other remedies prior to filing the SLP
• If petitioner has not disclosed the fact of filing a similar petition earlier and its dismissal by this Court

This is more or less all you need to know about the procedural elements of an SLP. I have addressed some FAQs in the section below for your reference. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Who is eligible to file an SLP? 

Any person who is aggrieved by a judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order (including order refusing to grant a certificate for appeal passed by the High Court) of any court or tribunal can file an SLP. But the aggrieved party cannot claim it as a matter of right as it is the discretionary power of the Supreme Court, whether to grant the leave or not in the case.

2. What challenges do litigants face when filing an SLP?

 The litigants usually face the following challenges when filing an SLP:

• Most AORs are based in Delhi, so travelling to Delhi and coordinating with an advocate here to get their cases filed is a huge hassle. 
• The procedure of filing the SLP is complex with strict requirements for documentation. As you are attaching all records from lower courts, even small errors like wrong pagination, indexing etc., can cause huge delays. 
• Even at the stage of filing if they notice that you have some other remedy like having a right to file a statutory appeal, your petition will not be allowed beyond that stage. 
• The huge number of pending cases can take considerable time for cases being heard.
• In admission hearing stages, lawyers hardly get 2-3 minutes to put their facts across for issuance of notices– dismissal rates are quite high, hence. 
• Language is also another barrier for litigants, since all the documents are required to be in English Language.

3. What are the relevant rules governing Special Leave Petitions (SLP) ?

The Supreme Court Rules,2013 provides a step by step guide including the format, procedure, hearing etc. for all types of cases that are filed in the Supreme Court.

The Rules are divided into various parts and orders containing several rules.

For SLP, you need to refer to the following orders:

• Order XXI of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 which deals with SLP (Civil) and 
• Order XXII of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, which deals with SLP (Criminal). 

The handbook on practice and procedure and office procedure of the Supreme Court, 2017 governs the procedural aspect of the Supreme Court including the Special Leave Petition.

4. What are the grounds for filing a Special Leave Petition ?

We have already seen the main grounds for admitting a Special Leave Petition above. The aforesaid grounds can be bifurcated into following three heads that can be relied upon for filing a Special Leave Petition:

a. Legal ground 

The grounds will vary on what substantive and/or procedural law your case follows. For example, if the Consumer Court has wrongly assumed jurisdiction and heard the case, you can challenge it on that procedural irregularity. If the Consumer Court has on merits misinterpreted core contract principles, and forced a party to act beyond what the contract stipulates, you can challenge it on that substantive ground too. 

b. Procedural ground:

If there is a situation, whereby an order has been passed by the lower court without issuing notice and giving an opportunity of hearing to the other side, then an SLP can be filed on this procedural irregularity and gross violation of the principle of natural justice.

c. Constitutional ground

If your case involves any constitutional provision, not just interpretation of fundamental rights, you would be arguing the same. Say, for example, you file a writ for unequal treatment of students in the same competitive exam. Some were given more time than the others. You challenge the procedure by filing a writ, and if the writ is decided against you by the High Court, you file an SLP in the Supreme Court challenging the writ order. In this case, your constitutional ground would be that there has been a violation of the right to equality of your client. 

5. Are you required to exhaust all the remedies available before filing the Special Leave Petition ?

The rule of exhaustion of remedies is a rule of discretion and not one of compulsion. But preferably, yes, you are supposed to exhaust all remedies available. In cases where there has been a grave miscarriage of justice, the Supreme Court may admit your SLP even if you haven’t exhausted all remedies. 

6. What are the fees and charges for filing a Special leave Petition (SLP) ?

The court fees for filing a Special leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court is INR. 1500/-.If the SLP involves special cases, then the court fee is INR 5000/-. For every application the court fees is INR 200/-

The fees of the advocate will depend on various factors including the nature of the case, the research work involved, the experience of the advocate etc. Ordinarily, you can consider a minimum amount of INR 1,00,000/- towards the fees of the advocate for the entire petition.

Besides this, there will be miscellaneous charges for xerox, scanning, service etc. that one will have to incur for filing a SLP in the Supreme Court.

7.  What is the role of legal representatives?

The role of the Advocate on record is the most important in SLP.

Apart from the fact that only an Advocate on record is authorised to file cases in the Supreme court, the Advocate on record is your Supreme Court expert and advisor. 

If you want to increase your chances of getting the leave, you must appoint an advocate who is aware of the procedure and has prior experience in handling such cases. Since, they will manage everything from filing, drafting the best grounds and arguing the SLP in an effective manner and also assisting the Supreme Court in arriving at a conclusion.

They are also responsible for ensuring all your papers are in order, the deadlines are followed and nothing important is missed out.

The Advocate on record might even consult with senior advocates who are experts in arguing complex cases and take assistance of junior advocates in research and preparation. It is important to have a skilled and dedicated legal team that will determine the success of your case.

8. What is the composition of the Bench who will hear the Special Leave Petition ?

Once you obtain the registered number, the SLP is listed before a Bench of two judges for admission that are held every Monday and Friday. 

9. What are the delay and pendency issues in the Supreme Court ?

The Supreme Court is considered to be the last beacon of hope for all citizens but with the enormous backlog of cases, the functioning capability of the Supreme Court to hear the matters has been affected.

As of 2024, over 80,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court with over 40,000 cases specifically being Special Leave Petition cases.

This poses a threat to the functioning of the Supreme Court to protect the rights of the citizens and upholding the constitution.

10.  What are the changes in the SLP rules and procedures ?

The Supreme Court Rules, 2013 provides a detailed framework regarding the Special Leave Petition. Even the handbook on practice and procedure and how office procedure of the Supreme Court, 2017 is important to understand the procedures governing the Special Leave Petition.

However, as of August 20, 2024, the Supreme Court of India issued a new practice direction for Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) in the case of Harsh Bhuwalka & Ors v. Sanjay Kumar Bajoria, which is as under: 

If an SLP requests an exemption from filing a certified copy of an impugned order, it must include a receipt from the High Court confirming the request. The SLP must also state that the application for the copy is still valid and provides an undertaking to submit the certified copy promptly. 

11. What are the technological advancements in filing and tracking in the Supreme Court ?

Any party or advocate on-record may file a case through eFiling by accessing the website. So, you do not have to be in Delhi physically to file or argue a case anymore. 

A unique reference number is given to every user for each case. A case filed through eFiling is scrutinized at the Filing Section in order to ensure that it is in conformity with the Rules and practice of the Court.

The defect(s), if any, and the diary number allotted to the case is communicated to the party in-person or advocate on-record, as the case may be, through eMail and he may remove the defect(s) by accessing his case using the Diary number through re-filing option available in the eFiling Menu. 

The notice of hearing to the party in-person, office report and communications to the party is also sent through eMail on the eMail I.D. furnished by the user. 

This is a convenient and faster method of filing that enables the user to access and track the status of the case at their comfort.

12. What are the best practices in drafting SLPs ?

• Keep the questions of law short, crisp and to the point. 
• The grounds should always provide a logical and legal reasoning to answer your question of law. 
• Do not draft 20 grounds to make your petition look convincing. Even two good grounds can sometimes be enough.
• You must draft the main questions and grounds at the beginning and then move on to the lesser important ones. 
• The synopsis should be to the point, focused, and should not include any flowery language or pomp. 

13. What are the common pitfalls to avoid in drafting SLPs ?

• Stick to the official format and not change the paragraph numbers.
• Do not remove any party from the lower court at will. Memo of parties must be cross checked from the pleadings filed in the lower courts.
• You must draft the grounds only on the basis of the grounds raised in the subordinate courts and not take a new ground that has not been pleaded before. 
• You must not reiterate the facts and evidence in the draft– the format does not provide for it.
• There is only one prayer in your SLP, so do not add anything extra.

14. What are landmark SLP cases and their significance? 

The following landmark cases that highlights the significance of SLP are as follows:

• Khoday Distilleries Ltd. v. Mahadeswara S.S.K. Ltd., (2012) 12 SCC 291: Grant of SLP is at two stages i.e., whether leave to appeal to the SC is allowed and second stage where it is heard upon becoming an appeal. Once leave is granted, the doctrine of merger applies. If any case is dismissed at the leave grant stage, the doctrine of merger does not apply. Meaning, the order of the lower court only merges with the order of the Supreme Court, after the leave has been granted by the Supreme Court. 
• In Devu G. Nair v. The State of Kerala (2024), the Supreme Court used the discretionary powers in an SLP to lay down comprehensive guidelines for handling habeas corpus petitions involving LGBTQ+ individuals.

15. What are the future prospects for SLPs in the Supreme Court ?

With new types of cases being filed in the Supreme Court by way of SLPs, the Supreme Court will likely provide clear rules about the cases that it will take up making it easier for lawyers and clients to understand their chances. For lawyers, this would mean learning new skills.

There could be a possibility of special benches and adopting a fast track process for disposal of SLPs and also making guidelines on admission of SLP that would mean narrowing the grounds for challenging orders and judgments by way of SLPs.

The whole idea would be to make the Supreme Court more reachable for the common people and help cases move faster.

16. What are the accessibility issues for a common man in the Supreme Court ?

The traditional concept of “access to justice” as understood by common man is a place where justice is provided.

But the courts have become inaccessible to a common man due to various barriers such as poverty, illiteracy, procedural formalities, language etc.

Even Justice Oka of the Supreme Court recently said that: The judiciary has not fulfilled the expectations of the common citizens of India.

Both the bar and bench are not able to provide proper access to quality justice and justice at a reasonable cost. 

17. What are the judicial reforms that should be made in the Supreme Court ?

There is an alarming need to take bold steps to address the issues that we have seen above.

First and foremost, there is a need to streamline the appointment process of the judges and to increase the strength of the court to hear more matters. Even the retirement age of the judges should be increased. A two to five minute hearing never captures the essence or complexity of the case, and many cases are dismissed even without a proper hearing, hence. 

Next is to have mobile legal clinics at inaccessible areas to reach the underserved population.

Another reform is to provide legal education to the citizens to empower them with knowledge of their rights and even the procedure of the Court.

The functioning of the Supreme Court should also change by delegating certain work to autonomous appellate courts like the U.S. Supreme Court.

18. What is the SLP mechanism in other jurisdictions ?

There is a similar mechanism akin to Special Leave Petition that exists in other jurisdictions that allow the higher courts to exercise their discretionary powers. 

In the U.S. the Supreme court has the power to review cases from lower federal or state courts under the writ of certiorari on issues of legal importance. 

In the UK, parties must obtain “permission to appeal” to bring their case before the Supreme Court that ensures only cases involving points of law of general public importance to be considered.

19. What is the lesson for the Supreme Court from courts of other jurisdictions in handling SLP cases?

The Supreme Court of India can learn from the practices followed by other courts in handling SLP cases. The Supreme Court provides a limited time in deciding SLPs which provides the litigants in a lot of difficulty. It would be beneficial if the Supreme Court can adopt guidelines from other courts in the US and UK that allows the litigants in understanding the likelihood of their cases being admitted.