SLP format and template
SLP Format & Template: Form 28 and the Paper Book
Advocates often search for an "SLP template" or "SLP format." The honest answer is that the binding template is Form 28 of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 — every Special Leave Petition is drafted to that form, and the surrounding paper book follows a fixed order.
This guide sets out the anatomy of an SLP and explains how your draft is turned into a compiled, paginated paper book.
The governing format: Form 28
An SLP under Article 136 is filed in Form 28 appended to the Supreme Court Rules, 2013. The format — font, spacing, margins, pagination, indexing — is prescribed, and departures from it are exactly what the Registry flags on scrutiny.
Anatomy of an SLP
A Special Leave Petition typically contains:
- Cause title (parties and the court appealed from)
- Synopsis and list of dates
- Questions of law said to arise
- Grounds for grant of special leave
- Prayer (including any interim relief sought)
- Supporting affidavit
- Annexures — certified/true copies of the impugned order and material documents
Is there an official SLP template?
There is no single downloadable file that fits every matter. Generic templates floating around the internet are a starting point at best — they do not account for multiple impugned orders, batch matters, companion applications, or the specific listing-proforma fields the Registry expects.
Treat Form 28 and the Supreme Court Rules as the authority, and adapt the drafting to your matter rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all template.
From draft to filing-ready paper book
Drafting the petition is the advocate's work. The mechanical layer — assembling the cover page and index, paginating continuously, generating the listing proforma and the standard applications, and exporting one clean PDF — is where most time is lost and most defects creep in.