Article 136 Petition

Article 136 Petition: The Constitutional Name for SLP

“Article 136 petition” and “SLP” are the same thing — one is the formal constitutional name, the other is the universal practical abbreviation. Both refer to the petition filed before the Supreme Court seeking special leave to appeal under Article 136. See TERM_521 (Special Leave Petition) and TERM_535 (SLP) for the detailed treatment of this important constitutional provision.

Article 136 in the Constitutional Scheme

Article 136 sits at the apex of the constitutional appellate framework: (a) Articles 132-134: Appeals as of right to the Supreme Court in specified circumstances. (b) Article 135: Jurisdiction of the Federal Court that vested in the Supreme Court. (c) Article 136: Residual discretionary appellate jurisdiction — catches everything not covered by 132-134. This hierarchy ensures that the Supreme Court can review any case, in any court, for any matter — subject only to its own discretion. Article 136 is the constitutional safety net ensuring that no matter escapes Supreme Court review if the Court considers it warranted.

Article 136 and Armed Forces

Article 136(2) provides the only exception to the Supreme Court's universal appellate reach: '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.' Military tribunal decisions are thus beyond the Article 136 SLP jurisdiction — a deliberate carve-out to preserve military discipline and the separate military justice system.

“Article 136 is the Constitution’s guarantee that the Supreme Court is truly supreme — that no court decision in India is beyond its reach if the Supreme Court considers it sufficiently important to review. The discretion is vast; the responsibility is commensurate.”