CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has reserved orders on a reference made by a division bench on whether parole can be granted to convict-prisoners when their appeal against the conviction is pending either before the high court or the Supreme Court.
After hearing the submissions of amicus curiae Abudu Kumar Rajaratnam and the respective advocates on Friday, the larger bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justices C V Karthikeyan, Jagadish Chandira, Nirmal Kumar and Sunder Mohan reserved orders.
The issue is whether leave under TN Suspension of Sentence Rules, 1982, can be granted under Article 226 of the Constitution when appeal against conviction is pending. Also, if power to exempt its Rule 40 can be exercised by the state to give leave outside the scope of these rules when appeal is pending in the light of the SC decision in KM Nanavati vs State of Bombay case. Rajaratnam informed that a similar case has been pending before the SC, and the TN government has been impleaded in it. He suggested the bench keep the matter pending until the SC takes a decision.