Withdrawal of an SLP does not bar High Court review where the petition was not decided on merits.

Withdrawal of a special leave petition does not amount to dismissal on merits or grant of leave, and therefore does not by itself bar a statutory review before the High Court. The Court applied Order XV Rule 9 of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 and treated the withdrawn proceeding as if it had not been preferred. On that basis, the earlier withdrawal of the SLP did not take away the review remedy, and the preliminary objection to maintainability was rejected.

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Issues: Whether a review petition is barred merely because the special leave petition against the impugned judgment was dismissed as withdrawn.

Analysis: The effect of withdrawal of a petition under Rule 9 of Order XV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 is that the proceeding stands withdrawn and is treated in law as if it had not been preferred. The dismissal of the special leave petition as withdrawn could not be equated with dismissal on merits or with grant of special leave. The Court also distinguished the line of authorities relied upon by the respondent and held that the earlier dismissal as withdrawn did not, by itself, take away the statutory remedy of review available before the High Court.

Conclusion: The preliminary objection was rejected and the review petition was held to be maintainable.

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