The Supreme Court today has issued notice on a petition seeking framing of a specific procedure and guidelines for disposing mercy petitions within a time bound manner.
The bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Hrishikesh Roy was hearing a petition filed by Advocate on record Kamal Mohan Gupta on behalf of Advocate Shiv Kumar Tripathi who has submitted that in the absence of a specified written procedure and guidelines for disposing of the mercy petitions within a time bound manner, the mercy petitions are being disposed of arbitrarily.
Moreover there is an undue delay in disposal of these petitions, and sometimes the convicts are able to take benefit of the delay and get their death sentences converted into imprisonment for life where the victims’ families feel cheated giving rise to public unrest and creates doubts and suspicion in the mind of the Public at large.
The petitioner has further submitted that the Joint Secretary to the Home Ministry Mr. Shashi Bhushan in a reply to an RTI filed by a resident of Mumbai, Vats Raj had said that “there is no written procedure followed for examining power to grant pardon or to suspend, remit and commute death petitions under Article 72.”
Since the power of the President to grant pardon is executive in nature and there being no personal hearing, the applicant in the absence of a prescribed procedure may file a simple application and may not provide the requisite information or sometimes may also act smartly by hiding certain information. Therefore a prescribed format will definitely help the petitioner and the president or the Governor as the case may be.
The petitioner has further cited examples of the USA and UK where there is a prescribed format to apply for a mercy petitions.
It has also been pointed out that from the past experience it can be said that the power to grant pardon under Article 72 is actually been exercised by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry is therefore responsible for the delay in disposal of the mercy petitions. Hence, there is always a possibility of arbitrariness and discrimination in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
-India Legal Bureau