New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) Taking serious note of the long time taken to dispose of parole pleas of convicts, the Delhi High Court Tuesday asked the Delhi government’s home secretary to explain the reasons for the delay.
Pulling up the government for its lax attitude towards deciding parole pleas, Justice Kailash Gambhir said: “The parole applications moved by the convicts should be given due priority and the same should be decided within a period of ten days but it appears that the directions given by this court are being implemented more in violation than in compliance.”

The court was hearing the plea of constable Sumer Singh, who is undergoing life imprisonment for his involvement in the Connaught Place shootout case, seeking parole for arranging funds for filing an appeal in the apex court challenging his conviction.

Singh pleaded that he needs three months’ parole as he has to arrange funds for filing an appeal in the apex court as no one in his family is educated enough to arrange for legal help.

The court also sought the response of Delhi Police by Nov 20 and asked the home secretary to submit details of how many applications for parole have been filed since January this year, along with their datewise disposal.

The court earlier also expressed its deep concern over the pending parole pleas of various convicts in Tihar jail, who had written a letter to the court complaining of the unnecessary delay by the government.

As per law, a prisoner can get parole for various reasons - to visit a dying or sick family member, building a house or to repair a badly damaged home, among others.

The official process on a parole application starts with its verification by police and the plea to be finally cleared, in case of Delhi, by the lieutenant-governor.