SC pulls up Centre for delay on decision in convict's mercy plea

The court had given the Centre two months, which have now elapsed

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for delay in deciding mercy plea of Balwant Singh Rajoana, the death row convict in 1995 association case of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, despite two-month time granted for the purpose in May.

The court sought a written response from a responsible officer on progress of the matter by Thursday.

A bench of Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and J B Pardiwala told Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj that the court gave the Centre two months time but two more had gone by.

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The court's observations came as Nataraj said the matter was still pending consideration before the authorities concerned.

The bench said a senior officer of the Union government's Ministry of Home affairs should file an affidavit on Thursday and the matter would be heard on Friday.

"A time period of two months was granted to take a decision in May 2 order, it had expired long back. We direct a responsible officer from the concerned department to file an affidavit indicating the progress in the matter," the bench said.

The bench was initially reluctant to defer the matter, saying once adjourned, it would not come up for hearing for months.

Earlier, the court had told the Centre not to link Rajoana's mercy plea with pending appeal by co-convict. Rajoana preferred not to file an appeal.

On May 2, the court told the Centre a decision should be taken as early as possible, "preferably within two months from today".

Rajoana was sentenced to death by a special CBI court in Chandigarh on August 1, 2007 for his involvement in an explosion outside Punjab Civil Secretariat leading to the killing of then Punjab CM and 16 others in 1995. His hanging was stayed in 2012 by the then UPA government on filing of the mercy petition.

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He filed the writ petition for a direction to the Union government to decide his 2012 mercy petition and commute his death sentence to imprisonment for life.

In September 2019, it was decided to commute the death penalty of Rajoana to a life sentence on the special occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. However, more than two years after, no decision has not been taken in the matter.

Earlier, the MHA had said the mercy plea can't be considered as it was filed an organisation and not the convict himself.