Bombay High Court proposes changes to rules on listing quashing petitions; all petitions to go before single-judges

The Bombay High Court on December 3 issued a draft notification proposing key changes to its Appellate Side Rules to streamline the hearing of petitions seeking quashing first information reports (FIRs) and criminal proceedings are heard.

It has invited public suggestions on the draft until December 17.

The draft Bombay High Court (Appellate Side) (Amendment) Rules, 2025 seeks to amend the Appellate Side Rules, 1960, by clarifying which bench will hear applications seeking to quash FIRs, crime reports, charge sheets, and orders directing investigation under both the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). 

According to the changes proposed, these petitions will be treated uniformly and heard by single-judges instead of Division Benches, regardless of whether they are filed under Article 226 or 227 of the Constitution or under the inherent-powers provisions of the CrPC (Section 482) or the new BNSS (Section 528).

Rohit Jain, Managing Partner at Singhania & Co., said the proposed amendment explicitly states that these matters will go to a single-judge irrespective of whether such applications have been filed under Article 226 or 227.

“If notified, standard quashing matters will be routed to a single-judge, regardless of how the petition is captioned,” he said.

He also pointed out that Rule 2 is an enabling clause and provides that the single-judge “may” dispose of the matters mentioned therein.

Jain explained that this will have to be read alongside the substantive law.

“For instance, if there is a special statute that provides that the case is to be heard by a division bench, then the special statute should be given effect, and this rule would not override the special statute,” he said.

At present, the Appellate Side Rules list applications under Section 482 of the CrPC, including challenges to process in private complaints, as matters that can be handled by a single-judge.

However, they carve out an exception for the quashing of FIRs, crime reports, charge sheets, and investigative orders which therefore, follow the default division bench route.

The draft notification proposes to delete this exception and instead introduce a separate clause expressly covering all quashing petitions within the same chapter that allocates criminal work to single-judges.

The proposed rules also state that the amendments will apply not only to fresh matters but also to proceedings already pending on the date the changes are brought into force.

The notice states that anyone wishing to offer suggestions on the draft must do so by email to the Registrar (Judicial-I) by December 17.

The inputs will be considered in due course before finalising the amendment rules.

[Read Notice]