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Informative

Supreme Court Allows Four Weeks to State of West Bengal to File Vakalatnama & Counter Affidavit in SLP (Crl.) No.1666/2025.

Update / Judgement Date

08 Oct 2025

Source

WCP News Bulletin

Author

Sakshi Bhardwaj — WCP Legal Desk

Reading Time

2 min read

Criminal Law
Supreme Court Allows Four Weeks to State of West Bengal to File Vakalatnama & Counter Affidavit in SLP (Crl.) No.1666/2025.
WCP News Bulletin

Headnote:

The Supreme Court, through its Registrar Court, directed the sole respondent in SLP (Crl.) No. 1666/2025 to file the vakalatnama and counter affidavit within four weeks. Despite an earlier undertaking to file, these documents were not on record. The Registrar ordered verification by the Registry and granted four weeks for compliance. The matter is to be listed before the Hon’ble Court after expiry of the said period. If the vakalatnama has not been filed, the same four-week period applies for filing both the vakalatnama and counter affidavit.


Background:

The petitioner, Marimuthu Parthasarathy, filed a Special Leave Petition (Criminal) against the State of West Bengal. At the previous hearing, the counsel for the sole respondent undertook to file the vakalatnama and counter affidavit but failed to do so. On 09.10.2025, Ld. Counsel for the respondent submitted that the vakalatnama had been filed that morning. The Registrar was directed to verify its filing. The matter concerns procedural compliance under Supreme Court Rules regarding filing of vakalatnama and counter affidavits in criminal special leave petitions.


Court’s Observations / Analyses:

  1. The Registrar noted that the respondent had not complied with the undertaking to file the required documents.
  2. Verification of the vakalatnama filing by the Registry was ordered.
  3. Four weeks’ time was granted to the respondent to file the counter affidavit if the vakalatnama had been filed.
  4. If the vakalatnama had not been filed, the same four-week period applies to file both the vakalatnama and counter affidavit.
  5. The matter will be processed for listing before the Hon’ble Court as per rules after expiry of four weeks.


Legal Provisions Discussed:

  1. Article 136 of the Constitution of India – Special Leave to Appeal (Criminal).
  2. Supreme Court Rules regarding filing of vakalatnama and counter affidavits.


Decision / Direction:

  1. Four weeks’ time granted to the sole respondent to file vakalatnama and/or counter affidavit.
  2. Registry to verify filing status.
  3. Matter to be listed before the Hon’ble Court on 24 November 2025.

Case Details:

Case: Marimuthu Parthasarathy v. State of West Bengal

SLP (Crl.) No.: 1666/2025

Court: Supreme Court of India, Registrar Court No. 2, Section II-B

Date of Order: 09 October 2025

Registrar: Sh. Mashroor Alam Khan

Petitioner’s Counsel: Mr. G.S. Mani, Ms. Yasmeen, Mr. Rajesh Kumar Maurya, Mr. Ashif Azam, Mr. Ashok Kumar Rai, Ms. Haseena M, Mr. R. Sathish (AOR)

Respondent’s Counsel: Mr. Kunal Mimani (AOR), Ms. Shraddha Chirania, Ms. Afshaa Hakim