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Supreme Court directs Delhi govt to decide on remission plea within 3 weeks
A bench of justices AS Oka and Pankaj Mithal said the difficulty would not arise now after it was informed that the new chief minister had taken over
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Delhi government under the new chief minister Atishi to decide on the remission of a life convict within three weeks days after expressing disappointment over the delay in the decision due to her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal’s inability to sign files as he was in jail in the excise policy case.
A bench of justices AS Oka and Pankaj Mithal said the difficulty would not arise now after it was informed the new chief minister had taken over. “You can take orders from the CM [chief minister],” said the bench as it posted the matter for hearing next on October 18.
Additional solicitor general Archana Pathak Dave, who appeared for Delhi, assured the court that a final decision would be taken within three weeks.
The matter was last heard on September 6 when the court expressed displeasure over the stalling of remissions concerning personal liberty for the want of the chief minister’s signature. “We want to examine whether there is any restraint order on the chief minister from performing his duties from jail. This needs to be examined as this question will affect hundreds of lives.”
The court was hearing convict Harpreet Singh’s petition. Singh is serving a life sentence and earlier this year filed a petition for his premature release. In May, the Supreme Court granted Delhi two months to decide on Singh’s plea while releasing him on furlough.
In July, the court was told that the remission board was considering Singh’s plea. The court gave the government another month to complete the exercise.
The Delhi government earlier told the court that the file related to Singh’s plea was pending for the want of Kejriwal’s signature before it would be forwarded to lieutenant governor VK Saxena for final approval.
The court asked the Delhi government to inform it whether there was any prohibition on the chief minister dealing with files of premature release cases while in custody. It added it would not hesitate to use its extraordinary power under the Constitution’s Article 142 to release Singh. The court can pass any order to do complete justice in any case as per Article 142.
