A Special Leve Petition (SLP) is filed in the Supreme Court under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. Generally, such SLP is filed when no regular appeal is available in a case to approach the Supreme Court. Here, “special leave” means the special permission sought from the Supreme Court to file such appeal, since regular appeal is not available. When such special leave is granted (or, simply, leave is granted by the Supreme Court) in an SLP, then it is registered as a regular Civil Appeal or Criminal Appeal, as the case may be.
So, if your SLP has been converted into a regular Criminal Appeal, it implies that leave has been granted by the Supreme Court to you for such Appeal, even though no regular appeal was available in the case. Now, this Criminal Appeal would be heard as a regular appeal. This is generally heard in detail, on merits of the case.
Usually, more time is taken to dispose of a Criminal Appeal than an SLP (Criminal). There is a queue of already pending criminal appeals. Moreover, since more time is devoted to hear such appeals in detail, as compared to SLPs, it may cause some further delay.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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