Decide on prisoners’ parole plea: High Court

‘Give reason for delay’; government failed to comply with rules previously

A prisoner behind the jail cell bars .

The Delhi High Court has asked the city government to expeditiously decide upon prisoners’ parole pleas and give reasons in cases of delays, saying delays in deciding the applications for parole or furlough could result in “irreparable loss to the convicts”.

A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and C. Hari Shankar said, “There can be no justification for the unwarranted delay in disposing of the applications of the convicts”.

“We, therefore, dispose of this application with a direction to the respondent [the government authorities] that it shall ensure that the schedule, as prescribed in the Parole/Furlough Guidelines, 2010, is strictly adhered to. In case of any delay, the respondent shall maintain a record of the reasons thereof,” the Bench added.

The court’s direction came on an application by advocate Ajay Verma contending that despite the previous directions of the High Court, the government had failed to comply with rules of the Parole or Furlough Guidelines, 2010.

Delhi resident Sanjeev Kumar had moved the court saying that despite the January 2014 High Court order to the Delhi government to decide “expeditiously” all parole or furlough applications pending before it within the time limit of three weeks, the authorities have failed to comply with it.

‘Framed parole’

The petition said though the authorities had framed parole or furlough guidelines, it was not adhering to the same while considering the applications resulting in unwarranted delays.

Due to the delay, the purpose of the parole application are often defeated, it said.

Filed status report

During adjudication of Mr. Kumar’s plea, the authorities had filed a status report in the court, disclosing the status of the parole applications to them and the manner in which they were examined, besides the orders passed over them.

After perusing the status report, the court said though it shows that quite a few applications were decided in accordance with the schedule stipulated in the guidelines, there were several others which were not processed within the stipulated time.