NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to file within two weeks its affidavit on a plea by Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 assassination case of the then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, seeking commutation of his death sentence to life term due to the delay in deciding his mercy petition.
Rajoana has been incarcerated for more than 29 years, of which he has been on death row for over 15 years.
"Why have you not filed your counter affidavit so far?" a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi asked the counsel appearing for the Centre.
The counsel said they want to place some documents before the court in a sealed cover.
"You file your counter affidavit otherwise his (Rajoana's) allegations are uncontroverted," the bench said, adding, "You place your affidavit whatever you want to say".
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, said the mercy plea filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on behalf of the petitioner in March 2012, is still pending.
He said the apex court had in 2023 said the authorities should take a call on the mercy plea.
Rohatgi referred to the top court's September 24 last year order which said that any further request for adjournment in the matter at the instance of the respondents would not be entertained.
The bench granted two weeks to the Centre's counsel to file the affidavit and made clear that no more time would be granted.
The apex court had earlier asked the Centre to take a decision on Rajoana's mercy petition.
The Centre had then referred to the sensitivity of the matter and said the mercy petition was under consideration.
In September 2024, the top court sought responses from the Centre, the Punjab government and the administration of the Union Territory of Chandigarh on Rajoana's plea.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Singh and 16 others were killed in a blast at the entrance of the civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. A special court sentenced Rajoana to death in July 2007.
Rajoana's plea sought a direction for his release.
On May 3, 2023, the apex court refused to commute his death sentence and said the competent authority could deal with his mercy plea.
In his fresh plea filed in 2024, Rajoana highlighted having undergone 28.8 years in jail, of which he has spent over 15 years as a death row convict.
He said the SGPC submitted a mercy petition under Article 72 in March 2012, seeking clemency on his behalf.
The plea said over a year had elapsed since the top court directed the competent authority, in due course of time, to deal with the mercy petition filed on his behalf and take further decision.
It referred to an April 2023 order of the top court in a separate matter in which the court directed all the states and appropriate authorities to decide pending mercy petitions at the earliest and without any inordinate delay.