Question: Will the Supreme Court admit a Special Leave Petition (SLP) even if there is no substantial question of law shown in it while filing SLP under Article 136 of the Constitution?
Answer: Special Leave Petition (SLP) is filed before the Supreme Court under the provisions of Article 136 of the Constitution, which is reproduced below:
“136. Special leave to appeal by the Supreme Court.—(1) 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.
(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall apply to any judgment, determination, sentence or order passed or made by any court or tribunal constituted by or under any law relating to the Armed Forces.”
It can clearly be seen from the above that the Supreme Court has been given the full discretion to admit any Special Leave Petition (SLP) against 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 (except any court or tribunal constituted by or under any law relating to the Armed Forces).
Article 136 does not lay down any mandatory requirement that there should a substantial question of law involved in the SLP. Of course, if there is a substantial question of law involved in the SLP, there would be better chances of the SLP being admitted. But, this is not a mandatory requirement. You can file SLP even if there is no substantial question of law involved. A large number of such SLPs have been accepted by the Supreme Court in the past.
However, one should keep in mind that, in practice, the Supreme Court does not entertain a majority of the SLPs which are filed before it. But, its discretion to admit SLPs is quite wide.
