Today, the bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol of the Supreme Court declined to commute the death penalty of Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was convicted in the 1995 assassination case of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, to life imprisonment.

Balwant Singh Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was convicted for his involvement in an explosion outside the Punjab civil secretariat that killed Beant Singh and 16 others on August 31, 1995. The court said the competent authority may deal with Rajoana's mercy plea.

"What we have decided is that the stand of the Ministry of Home Affairs to defer the decision on the mercy petition of the petitioner is also our decision for the reasons given hereunder..."

"This actually amounts to declining grant the same (remission) for the present. Therefore, we have directed that the competent authority will again as and when they deem necessary will deal with the mercy petition and take a further decision. The writ petition (of Rajoana) is disposed of accordingly," , said Court 

Earlier, in March, the top court had reserved its verdict on the plea of Rajoana after hearing the submissions of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the convict, and Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj.

The counsel for Mukul Rohatgi submitted that keeping him on death row while sitting over his mercy plea for such a long period violated his fundamental right. His plea for mercy has been pending before the government for over a decade.

Rajoana has sought commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment on grounds of his long incarceration.

The top court had asked the Centre on May 2 last year to decide within two months on the commutation plea filed on behalf of Rajoana.

It had also questioned the Centre over the delay in sending Rajoana's mercy petition to the President.

It had asked the government to apprise it as to when the authorities concerned would send the proposal to the President under Article 72 of the Constitution which deals with the powers of the President to grant pardon, suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases.

A special court sentenced him to death in July 2007.