CHENNAI: A larger bench of the Madras High Court has adjourned the hearing on whether prisoners with pending appeals could be granted leave and whether the State government can exercise its exemption powers to grant such leave.

The larger bench comprising Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justices CV Karthikeyan, AD Jagadish Chandira, M Nirmal Kumar and Sunder Mohan also appointed senior counsel Abudu Kumar Rajaratnam as amicus curiae (friend of the court) to assist the court.

The matter came up for hearing before the bench, which will decide the following questions of law:

(i) Whether prisoners with pending appeals before the High Court or the Supreme Court can be granted leave under the Tamil Nadu Suspension of Sentence Rules, 1982?

(ii) Whether the State government can exercise its power to exempt a prisoner from all or any of the provisions of the Rules and grant leave outside the scope of the Rules while an appeal is pending?

The division bench comprising Justices N Sathish Kumar and M Jothiraman was dealing with a batch of cases challenging orders of prison authorities rejecting requests of convict prisoners for emergency or ordinary leave. The prisoners had also sought a grant of such leave. Noting divergent views expressed by full benches on the issue, the division bench deemed it appropriate to refer the matter to a larger bench. The matter has been adjourned to June 19.