The State government on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that the Governor had forwarded to the President the entire recommendation made by the State Cabinet on September 9, 2018 to release all seven convicts involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
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Appearing before Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram said the government had ascertained from the Governor’s office that the entire file related to the Cabinet recommendation had been referred to the President.
The court had on April 2 directed the government to find out whether the Governor had referred the issue of premature release of all seven convicts to the President or whether the plea for premature release by one of the convicts, A.G. Perarivalan, alone had been referred to the President.
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The direction was issued while hearing a writ petition filed by yet another convict S. Nalini seeking a direction to the government to release her even without the Governor’s consent. Her counsel M. Radhakrishnan argued that the Governor could not sit over the Cabinet’s recommendation for 42 months.
When the A-G reverted stating that the entire file had been referred to the President, the judges asked him to find out within a week the exact date when the Governor had referred the matter to the President and also if there were any directions of the Supreme Court with respect to the issue.
Mr. Radhakrishnan contended that the Governor was the sole authority to grant pardons, reprieves, respites, remissions or suspension of sentence under the Article 161 of the Constitution, and that “he has no authority whatsoever to send the papers to the President.”
However, the judges said they wanted the facts to come on record first before deciding the merits of the case and adjourned the matter by a week to know the exact date when the Governor had referred the matter to the President.