The Rajasthan High Court Full Bench on Monday held that writ petitions arising from criminal matters must be registered separately as criminal writ petitions under the Rajasthan High Court Rules.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjay K Agrawal and Justices Sameer Jain and Anuroop Singhi overruled an earlier ruling by a division bench headed by former Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma in this regard.

The Full Bench observed that the July 2026 ruling had failed to consider Rule 315(1)(h) of the Rajasthan High Court Rules, which specifically provides for separate registration of writ petitions arising from criminal matters.

"The aforesaid decision in Jiya failed to consider or give effect to the statutory mandate embodied in Rule 315(1)(h) of the Rajasthan High Court Rules, its ratio, insofar as it prohibits criminal-side registration of such writ applications, is held to be per incuriam, having been rendered in ignorance of, or without due consideration of, a relevant statutory provision," the Court held.

The Court clarified that classifying a petition as a criminal writ petition does not create a separate category of constitutional jurisdiction. Rather, it is a procedural distinction meant to identify petitions arising from criminal proceedings and ensure that they are placed before the appropriate Bench.

"The classification of a petition as a ‘criminal writ petition’ does not create an independent constitutional jurisdiction; it identifies the procedural character of a writ proceeding arising from a criminal matter and must be understood in conjunction with the constitutional jurisdiction under Article 226 and the applicable High Court Rules," the Court observed.

The Full Bench directed the High Court Registry to reclassify all pending criminal writ petitions that had been registered under a different nomenclature and place them before the appropriate Bench within two weeks.

It further directed that all fresh writ petitions arising from criminal matters and falling within the ambit of Rule 315(1)(h) must be registered as criminal writ petitions and listed before the appropriate Bench in accordance with the roster and applicable rules.

The Full Bench was hearing a reference made by Justice Anand Sharma, who had questioned the correctness of an earlier ruling on the registration of writ petitions arising from criminal matters.

In July 2026, a division bench comprising then Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Maneesh Sharma had held that the Constitution did not recognise a separate category of 'criminal writ petitions'. It had consequently directed the Registry to stop registering cases under that classification and register them simply as writ petitions.

The Full Bench, however, held that the earlier decision had overlooked Rule 315(1)(h) of the Rajasthan High Court Rules, which specifically provides for separate registration of such petitions.

The Court clarified that its ruling would operate from November 2, 2026. Judgments and final orders passed before that date will remain unaffected and cannot be reopened merely because the petitions were registered under a different nomenclature.