The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to take a firm decision on granting pardon to Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination case, by April 30.
A three-judge bench of justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha directed Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla to remain present in Court on May 2, the next date of hearing, in case the Centre fails to make a decision.
The order came on a petition filed by Rajoana, who moved the top court two years ago seeking implementation of a decision taken by the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) in September 2019 to commute Rajoana’s death sentence to life.
On Thursday, the bench said, “Nothing has been done in the matter and the counsel appearing for Union of India has no clear instructions. We direct that the matter shall immediately be looked into by the concerned authorities including the Government of India and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).”