After the Supreme Court had rejected all appeals against the convict in the Noida-based Nithari killings, Surinder Koli, the Allahabad high court commuted his death sentence in public interest litigation (PIL) of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR).
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PKS Baghel commuted his sentence to life in prison on the basis of the Uttar Pradesh governor’s three-and-a-half year delay in disposing his mercy petition and the “misapplication” of rules, reported The Hindu
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How can the High Court pass a judgment on a petition which had attained where the Supreme Court vide a three judge bench had already affirmed his sentence?
Even if a court were to commute the sentence it ought to be Supreme Court alone as it has the powers to overrule its own decisions
How can a division bench of a high court transgress the powers of a three judge bench of supreme court?
The article says that based on a PIL, by PUCL the court commuted the sentence, If that is so how is a PIL maintainable against an execution of an individual what are the larger public rights that are affected by his execution? what was the locus of PUCL to file a PIL?
1. The Allahabad High Court was well within its rights to pass a judgment on the PIL filed by PUCL on behalf of Surinder Koli. The matter had attained finality in the Supreme Court only with respect to the legality/correctness of the order of conviction and sentence. The issue of inordinate delay in disposing of Surinder Koli's mercy petition was never even raised in the Supreme Court.
2. There is no bar anywhere in the Constitution of India that the sentence of Surinder Koli could have been commuted by the Supreme Court alone. In fact, the Allahabad High Court has not said in its judgment that it is 'overruling' the judgment of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court itself has said in Tirpuati Balaji Developers Pvt. Ltd. vs. State of Bihar & Ors. [(2004)5 SCC 1] & several other judgments that the HC is not a court 'subordinate' to it. It's an error to think that a HC within the legitimate sphere of its constitutional jurisdiction is in any way inferior to the SC. Under our constitutional scheme, the HCs and SC are superior courts of record & enjoy complete freedom to pass orders in the legitimate exercise of that jurisdiction.
3. Again the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court has in no manner transgressed the powers of a 3-judge Bench of the Supreme Court. Reference in this regard may be had to the judgment of a 3-judge Bench of the SC in Ajay Kumar Pal v. Union of India & Anr. [pronounced on 12.12.2014 & reported as 2014 (13) SCALE 762]. Ajay Kumar Pal filed a Writ Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution in the SC in order to get his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment due to the inordinate delay in the disposal of his mercy petition and solitary confinement for 7 years. On these two grounds, he could have moved the Jharkhand HC as well under Article 226 of the Constitution & the Jharkhand HC would have been expected to deal with the same on its own merits irrespective of the finality of the order of conviction and consequential death sentence passed against him by the SC in (2010) 12 SCC 118.
4. The question of locus to file a PIL like this will always be a contentious issue. Critics might have misgivings about the locus of Ms. Lily Thomas to challenge the constitutionality of Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. In short, as long as a Constitutional Court is of the view that the PIL is filed bona fide and in the interest of justice, it should be considered on merits and not disposed of on a mere technical issue of locus standi.
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