What Are The Legal Grounds For Filing A Special Leave Petition?

The Special Leave Petition is a very important part of the Indian judicial system that can be suggested as a device for an appeal against the orders, verdicts, or decisions from lower courts or tribunals. This device is provided under Article 136 of the Indian Constitution, which empowers the Supreme Court of India with the power to entertain appeals without following the usual appellate process in certain cases. In its coverage of the entire Indian legal system, the SLP may be one of those incredibly liberal animals because it allows an aggrieved party to go against judgments that would not otherwise qualify.

Special Leave Petition: About

• An appeal against a judgment, decree, sentence, or order rendered by any other court or tribunal in India, including subordinate courts and quasi-judicial bodies, must be filed with the Supreme Court of India in the form of an SLP. 
• This Court has also given power to the Supreme Court under Article 136 of the Indian Constitution to grant special leave to appeal concerning judgments or orders made by any courts in India.
• The SLP aims to set things right or to avoid an occurrence of criminal justice. It secures a legal way through which an individual or a party can seek redress even in cases where they do not have legally recognized reasons for appealing against a decision. If the decision made by the lower courts has serious flaws, the individual can have access to justice.

Legal Grounds for Filing a Special Leave Petition

Although there are not any specific reasons, in general SLPs are filed on grounds like:

• Substantial question of law
• Gross miscarriage of justice
• Violation of the principle of natural justice
• Violation of the Fundamental Rights.

Who Can File a Special Leave Petition?

• An SLP may be filed by an aggrieved party against the judgment or order which denies the certificate to appeal in the Supreme Court. The scope of SLP is wide enough to cover any civil, criminal, or even other issues, with a substantive legal question or grave injustice having occurred. 
• The petitioner must summarize the facts and issues with a timeline in a very short form, and present the legal arguments on behalf of the verdict quoted.
• Once filed, the petitioner gets the opportunity to be heard before the Supreme Court.
• Such notice shall be issued by the Court on merit, and the opposing party shall be invited to file a counter-affidavit. 
• The Supreme Court will decide if it will then be granted leave. 
• In the event that leave is granted, the application then transfers into a civil appeal and will once again be heard by the Supreme Court. 
• The SLP mechanism gives aggrieved parties a special form of permission to appeal from any court or tribunal order in India to the Supreme Court.

The procedure of a Special Leave Petition

• The Special Leave Petition must include all the facts and circumstances based on which the Supreme Court is to adjudicate the reasons for bringing the SLP. 
• An Advocate-on-Record must sign the SLP as per the Supreme Court Rules And also require such a statement from the petitioner in the SLP that no other petitions regarding the same matter have been filed in any High Court. 
• The petition shall be heard by the Supreme Court on filing by the petitioner. Based on merits, the Court may allow the opposite party to file a counter-affidavit. 
• After the hearing, the Court will decide whether the case should be taken further. If the Court feels the case is fit for further hearing, leave would be granted for appeal. 
• If the Court does not find sufficient grounds to go into the matter further, it shall dismiss the appeal. The Court may either allow or deny the SLP at its discretion only, just under the facts and arguments presented during the first hearing. 
• The procedure of filing and considering SLPs is designed to enable the Supreme Court to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution judiciously.

Case Laws on Special Leave Petition

• In Kerala State v. Kunhayammed (2000) it is laid that if the findings on the ground by which SLP is not granted and, therefore, no appeal jurisdiction of the Court lies, the scope of discretion of the Court about granting SLPs is not invoked. 
• N. Suriyakala v. A. Mohandoss & Ors. (2007) held that Article 136 of the Constitution does not constitute an ordinary court of appeal. It gives the Supreme Court wide powers of discretion, not to create a right of appeal to the litigating parties, but for purposes of meeting the ends of justice.

A Special Leave Petition filed before the Supreme Court under Article 136 of the Constitution of India plays a significant part in accessing justice, correcting the errors of law, and protecting constitutional rights. This affords the aggrieved party entering the Supreme Court an extraordinary remedy before it, on grounds that such lower court or tribunal has passed an order resulting in the state’s manifest injustice or having violated any of the legal principles involved. 

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