[Rajiv Gandhi assassination] No more adjournments: Supreme Court on AG Perarivalan plea

The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that it will not grant any more adjournments in the plea filed by Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict AG Perarivalan seeking remission of his sentence [AG Perarivalan v. State of Tamil Nadu]..A Bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said the same after Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government, sought adjournment since he had to appear before other Benches in part heard matters.The SG, therefore, requested the Court to list the case on Thursday. The Bench which also comprised Justices BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna said that the SG should have informed the Bench earlier about his schedule. "What do we do? If everything is adjourned.. You should tell us early. Thinking that these three matters will go on, we didn’t keep any (other matters)," the Bench said. Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan, appearing for Perarivalan, said that since Perarivalan had been in custody for 30 years, some relief should be granted in the matter. "May I just say the Governor’s decision has not been placed on record! We don’t know it." the Senior Advocate said. The Court then said that while there was no great urgency, it will take up the matter in January. "But please don’t take any more adjournments!" the Bench said. Perarivalan was convicted and sentenced to death when he was 19 for aiding in making the bomb responsible for the assassination of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. The Supreme Court had in 2014, commuted his death penalty to life imprisonment on the ground of delay in deciding their mercy petitions. It has been a protracted period of seeking clemency since the question of who would be the competent authority to grant pardon continues to be a subject of many interpretations. Perarivalan had applied to the Governor for pardon on December 30, 2015. Almost three years later, in September 2018, the Supreme Court asked the Governor to decide the pardon plea as he “deemed fit”. Three days after that, on September 9, 2018, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet recommended to the Governor to remit Perarivalan’s sentence and release him forthwith but the Governor is yet take a call on the same.The Supreme Court had, on November 3, 2020 said the investigation into the assassination need not deter the Tamil Nadu Governor from deciding the plea for pardon of convicts like him who have been serving their sentence in jail for over two decades.Even the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had told the Supreme Court in October 2020 that the Governor of Tamil Nadu is the competent authority to decide on request for remission.However, the Governor has maintained that the President is the competent authority to take a call on remission.[Read our coverage of today's hearing below]