Appellate Process vis-à-vis Supreme Court of India

The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, being the Apex Court of the country, encapsulates a wide range of powers ranging from Civil to Criminal Appeals that are statutory in nature, extraordinary jurisdiction of granting special leave, to appeal against an order passed by all Courts and Tribunals in its discretion over any cause or matter.

Civil Appeals

A person aggrieved by a judgment, order or decree passed by the High Court may approach the Supreme Court in appeal, subject to a certificate of fitness issued by the High Court, among other things.

• The certificate of fitness must state that there are substantial questions of law of general importance involved in the matter.
• The limitation period for filing a civil appeal is 60 days from the date of passing of the order/judgment under challenge.

Criminal Appeals

A criminal appeal may be preferred by an aggrieved party under several instances as follows:

• The High Court certifies that the case is fit for an appeal to the Supreme Court.
• The High Court has reversed an appeal of order of acquittal and sentenced a person to death or imprisonment for a period not less than 10 years.
• A person is convicted by the High Court in a trial held by it under its extraordinary jurisdiction.
• An appeal before the Supreme Court should be made within 60 days from the date of the order/judgment of the High Court.

Statutory Appeals

In addition to the civil and criminal appeal, individuals have the right to appeal orders issued by several tribunals, as provided for by specific statutes.

• Specific statutes, such as the Consumer Protection Act and the Insolvency Bankruptcy Code, provide avenues of appeal.
• Aggrieved parties have the right to challenge the judgment or order passed by specialized tribunals like the NCDRC or NCLAT.
• Statutory appeals ensure a comprehensive avenue for legal redressal before the Supreme Court of India.

Special Leave Petitions

Apart from the aforementioned instances, the Supreme Court exercises a wide appellate jurisdiction over all Courts and Tribunals in India.

• The Supreme Court may in its discretion, grant a special leave to appeal from any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed by any Court or Tribunal across India.
• Ordinarily, the Supreme Court does not interfere with the judgment or orders passed by the Courts on mere errors of facts or misinterpretation of evidence, but only entertains such petitions wherein substantial questions of law and interpretation of the law is involved.
• The Supreme Court may reverse, modify, or uphold the judgment/order under challenge as per the settled principles of law.
• The Court if it deems fit, may also relegate the matter back to the original forum for fresh adjudication.
• The most common instances where Special Leave Petitions are filed before the Supreme Court are cases wherein the High Court has not granted the certificate of fitness to file a regular appeal before it.

Discretionary Exercise of Power by Supreme Court of India

Ordinarily, the Supreme Court does not entertain Special Leave Petitions from orders where a right to appeal to an appellate authority is otherwise present, unless extraordinary difficulty or urgency is made out. For instance, cases of threat to personal liberty.

Such exercise of extraordinary jurisdiction is primarily done by the Supreme Court where the party approaching it does not have any further right to appeal, apart from a Special Leave Petition.

The Supreme Court does not entertain Special Leave Petitions for mere interpretation of law or on questions of facts, and an aggrieved party must make out strong grounds indicating grave travesty of justice and substantial questions of law.

Furthermore, in the event that the Supreme Court dismisses the Special Leave Petition challenging an order by the High Court, the party may still prefer a review petition before the concerned High Court and the dismissal of the petition does not bar such filing of review.

Procedure for Special Leave Petition

The procedure for filing a Special Leave Petition is as follows:

• Any filing done before the Supreme Court is only permitted through an ‘Advocate-on-Record’ as certified by the court.
• Before the matter is cleared by the Registry, caveat clearance is mandatory. A caveat may be filed by any party who has an order in their favour and is anticipating that the other party may prefer an appeal against the said order.
• The procedure mandates that any party challenging an order must ensure that if a caveat has been filed by the opposite party, then they must be served with a copy of petition.

Once a Special Leave Petition is filed before the Supreme Court, it may issue notice to the other party for entering appearance before the Court, or it may simply dismiss the Petition and chose not to exercise its discretion in the matter.

A party may also prefer to file a caveat and be present before the Court on the first date of hearing itself, and present its case before the Court, if necessary, and demonstrate why the Court ought not to exercise its discretion in the matter.

If the Court is of the opinion that it does not wish to exercise its discretion, it may simply dismiss the Petition and is not mandated to ascribe any reasons for dismissal.

If, however, it is prima facie of the opinion that the case is fit for hearing, leave is granted by the Court upon satisfying itself that a substantial question of law is involved, and the Special Leave Petition is converted into a Civil or Criminal Appeal and is heard at length in a manner similar to other appeals.

NOTE: The limitation period for filing a Special Leave Petition under Article 136 is 90 days from the passing of the order/judgment under challenge. However, reasonable delay is subject to condonation upon reasonable grounds being made out for such delay.

Interplay of Article 142

The Constitution of India has vested the Supreme Court with the power to pass any decree or order necessary for accomplishing complete justice in any case or matter pending before it. Essentially, this empowers the Supreme Court to pass any order as it may deem fit in the facts of the case, irrespective of the original relief sought, and in that sense is not limited in its powers as against other courts.

It is vested with the power to pass any directions or orders as it deems fit in order to do complete justice, and thus there is a wide scope available with the Apex Court to remedy a situation wherein the law otherwise may not be of aid.

However, such power has been used by the Supreme Court very sparingly and only in peculiar situations, keeping in view equities and whether there is apparent and gross injustice and imbalances in play.

Review Petitions

• Orders passed by the Supreme Court are final in nature in the sense that no further right to appeal is permissible under law.
• However, a party aggrieved by any order/judgment passed by the Supreme Court may challenge the same before the Supreme Court for review.
• The scope of such review petitions is limited to any errors apparent on the face of record, and the court does not reappreciate the entire case afresh under review petitions or permit re-hearing of the case.
• Ordinarily, no right of hearing is granted by the Court under review petitions and the same is decided by the Court by way of circulation, unless special ground is made out for grant of a hearing.

Conclusion

The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India serves as the ultimate arbiter of justice. From Civil, Criminal and Statutory Appeals to Special Leave Petition, the Supreme Court offers a pathway to individuals seeking review and redressal of legal grievances, to ensure safeguarding of rights while also upholding the rule of law.