Govt: Cant set time frame for President on mercy pleas

Ministry of Home Affairs MHA has told court that Presidents decision could not be questioned.

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Bringing out the Presidents special powers that it claimed was beyond the pale of question,the government has asked the Supreme Court to desist from interfering with his authority to decide mercy petitions of death row convicts by setting a time-frame for such adjudication.

The Ministry of Home Affairs MHA has told the court that the Presidents decision could not be questioned even on the ground of delay in deciding such pleas since it was his absolute prerogative to take as much time as he wants,for there was no constitutional bar on it. 8230;the fact that delay has occurred will have to be presumed to be part of the power of the President while deciding the prayer for clemency. If the courts were to nullify the effect of the Presidents order on the ground that decision is belatedly taken,it would amount to sitting in appeal over his decision and substituting it with a judicial decision,which could never be the intention of the Constitution-makers, stated the MHA affidavit.

The governments affidavit has come as a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice P Sathasivam seeks to reconcile two divergent views adopted by the SC in its decisions on whether the court could judicially review the decisions of the President on mercy petitions. The CJI has constituted a larger Bench,which is now hearing a bunch of petitions by more than two dozen death row convicts. The petitions challenge the execution on various grounds,including delay in deciding their mercy petitions and delay in execution.

In its latest affidavit,the government,while demanding from SC a deference to the decision of another constitutional authority,has said the courts jurisdiction at the stage of execution was extremely limited and that it should not examine the Presidents decisions either on merits or review the decision-making process of this attribute of sovereignty.

The powers under Article 72 do not contain any limitation as to the time in which power might be exercised. The powers under Article 72 are special constitutional powers overriding all other laws,rules and regulations in force. Setting of any time-frame for the President is beyond the mandate of Article 72, it asserted.

It pointed out that the SC very often upholds death penalty despite the delay during trial and appeal and hence,it should apply the same yardstick and immunity to the Presidents decision. On the point of delay in execution after the Presidents decision,the government emphasised that if the delay in disposal of a case is not a mitigating circumstance for lesser sentence,it would be wholly inappropriate to fall back upon the said delay to impeach the execution.

It urged that the courts may not go into this period while adding that delay did not take away the heinous nature of the offences and the circumstances that impelled the courts to hand out the death penalty. The Bench will hear the case again Tuesday.