Governor's pardon order set aside

CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday set aside the orders of Punjab governor Gen SF Rodrigues vide which he had pardoned three murder accused from Barnala in July last year. The three - Narain Dutt, Prem Kumar and Manjit Singh - had committed a murder near court complex at Barnala in March 2001 and were held guilty by the trial court and sentenced to life term.
This order has been passed by the division bench of justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and justice SD Anand while disposing of a writ petition filed against this pardon order by Rajinder Pal Singh from Bathinda. The bench observed that while there was no dispute about the legal position of the power to pardon and it could be used without any limitation and even during the pendency of appeals in the high court, it did not mean that the same could be exercised on irrelevant grounds.
The bench cited a number of judgments and observed: ������Such power is subject to judicial review on well-known grounds like illegality, irrationality and impropriety.
The power has to be exercised for a valid purpose,'' while allowing the writ petition of Rajinder Pal Singh and setting aside the order of July 24 and 28, 2007.