New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Monday passed a slew of directions for early disposal of mercy petitions filed by convicts, and directed that a dedicated cell shall be constituted by the home department or the prison department of the state governments/Union Territories for dealing with such petitions.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Augustine George Masih said the dedicated cell shall be responsible for the prompt processing of mercy petitions within the time frame laid down by the respective governments.

“An officer-in-charge of the dedicated cell shall be nominated by designation who shall receive and issue communications on behalf of the dedicated cell. An official of the law and judiciary or justice department of the state governments/Union Territories should be attached to the dedicated cell so constituted,” the bench said.

The directions came as the court upheld an order of the Bombay High Court which commuted the death penalty of two convicts in the 2007 Pune BPO employee gang-rape and murder case to life term for a period of 35 years on the grounds of an inordinate delay in executing them.

The top court said all the prisons shall be informed about the designation of the officer-in-charge of the dedicated cell along with his address and email ID.

“As soon as the superintendent of prison/officer in-charge receives the mercy petitions, he shall immediately forward the copies thereof to the dedicated cell and call for the details/information (like criminal antecedents, economic condition, etc.) from the officer-in-charge of the concerned police station and/or the concerned investigating agency.

“On receipt of the request made by the jail authorities, the officer-in-charge of the concerned police station shall be under an obligation to furnish the said information to the jail authorities immediately,” the bench said.

As soon as mercy petitions are received by the dedicated cell, copies of the pleas shall be forwarded to the secretariats of the governor of the state or the President of India, as the case may be, so that the secretariat can initiate action at their end, it said.

“All correspondence, as far as possible, be made by email, unless confidentiality is involved; and the state government shall issue office orders/executive orders containing guidelines for dealing with the mercy petitions in terms of this judgment,” the bench said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday said the State cannot be permitted to acquire citizens’ land without paying appropriate compensation.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan observed that though the right to property was no longer a fundamental right, it was still a constitutional right.

The supreme court dismissed a batch of pleas filed by the Himachal Pradesh government and others challenging an order of the state high court which had held that the State cannot take possession of citizens’ land without paying compensation.

“Although the right to property is no longer considered a fundamental right, it is still a constitutional right. The State cannot be permitted to acquire citizens’ land without paying appropriate compensation,” the top court said.

The bench noted it has come across several matters where the Himachal Pradesh government has challenged the orders passed by the division bench of the state high court directing compensation to be paid to the land owners.

It said in these circumstances, it would have been justified in dismissing the petitions filed by the state with exemplary costs.

“However, we refrain from doing so now and simply dismiss these special leave petitions,” it said.

The bench noted the land owners had approached the high court with a grievance that though the possession of their lands were taken for road construction, they did not receive compensation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)