NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today sought a response from the Tamil Nadu government on a plea filed by a jailed brother of slain sandalwood smuggler Veerappan seeking benefit of remission in the life term.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued notice to the state government and asked it to file its reply in four weeks.
69-year-old Mathaiyan has approached the apex court seeking remission of his life sentence alleging that the state government did not duly consider his case for remission.
He has been in jail since his arrest on July 28, 1987 in connection with a murder case. He was convicted and sentenced to life in November 1997.
Mathaiyan's petition seeking remission of his sentence was disposed of by the Madras High Court on December 16, 2015.
The High Court had directed the Tamil Nadu Government to consider his plea. But the State Government did not consider it, as directed.
Mathaiyan has alleged discrimination on the part of the Tamil Nadu government and said it granted remission to other prisoners who had served at least 20 years of actual imprisonment, in terms of a government order dated November 10, 1994.
On July 28, 2007, when the state government released hundreds of prisoners serving life sentence in exercise of its remission powers, his case was not considered for eligibility, he said.