Supreme Court Directs NALSA To Collect Compliance Reports From States On Pending Applications Of Convicts Seeking Remission On Completion Of Sentence

The Supreme Court on Monday directed all States to file reports through their respective State Legal Services Authorities (SLSA) to NALSA as to how the process regarding pending applications seeking remission after completion of their sentences may be streamlined.

The bench comprising of Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice Hrishikesh Roy called upon Mr. Gaurav Agarwal, assisting the Court on behalf of NALSA, to place before the bench all the reports along with his own suggestions in the matter.

The direction came after the bench was hearing a plea filed by a petitioner accused who had completed 14 years of sentence in March, 2017. However, his case was not considered for remission despite the Rule 358 of the Chattisgarh Prison Rules providing for remission of sentence.

Thereafter, his case was sent for remission on 17.09.2019 after two and a half years which was accepted by the Chattisgarh Home Department after a year on 30.09.2020. The petitioner was released from jail on 02.10.2020, three years after completion of his sentence.

In view of the facts of the case, the Bench called upon the State of Chattisgarh to file an affidavit stating the process it has proposed to initiate for ensuring immediate release of accused persons after completing 14 years of sentence.

While making the direction, the bench also specified that the Superintendent of Jail must not take more than one month from the completion of sentence in considering the remission cases whereas the Home Department of the State should not take more than two to three months in processing such applications.

At the outset, the bench observed that:

"We may also notice that the focus appears to be on forwarding the papers to file a SLP on the anvil of 14 years expiry to complete formality (most of such appeals result in dismissal orders as being without merits) rather than ensuring that the application for remission is forwarded and considered expeditiously. In fact such appeals are being filed within the range of 13 or 14 years, or on completion of sentence or as in the present case sometimes even years thereafter."

In view of this, the bench perused a NALSA report showing the information sought from various SLSAs giving data on pending applications of convicts considered for premature release.

"The aforesaid shows that there are 1649 applications of convicts for premature released pending. It should be verified as to how long have these applications been pending to get us an insight into this issue. We also find that 431 prisoners have not applied for premature release and thus may not be aware of their rights. It is towards this objective that we have passed the directions in the present matter which pertains to Chhattisgarh but the same principles must apply across the board."

While observing so, the bench directed NALSA to ensure circulation of the order to all States along with compliance reports to be filed by the States through SLSAs.

The bench also went ahead to analyze the role of NALSA by observing that:

"We may emphasize that the role of NALSA is to prefer SLPS where it is felt that the order deserves to be examined on merits but where the order is not faulty on merits, the focus may shift to make sure that the remedy available to the detenues, more specifically of remission is made available at the earliest. We are of the view that the services of the para legal volunteers who visit jails should be utilized for this purpose under the guidance of the NALSA, if so required."

The matter will now be heard on 1st March 2021.

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