HC extends parole of convict, asks govt to decide by Apr 2

The Bombay High Court today extended till April 2 the release of 1993 bomb blast convict Farooq Motorwala on parole, and directed the Maharashtra Government to take a decision meanwhile on his application urging leave from prison to attend to his ailing wife.
The order was passed by a bench comprising Justice Naresh Patil and Abhay Thipsay, who asked the Government to take a decision on Motorwala's parole extension plea within eight days.
Motorwala's parole was to expire tomorrow and he had asked for its extension on compassionate ground as his wife had to undergo a surgery.
The court had yesterday pulled up the state government for keeping Motorwala's application pending on the ground that the election Code of Conduct did not allow them to take decisions.

The bench opined that the Code of Conduct does not mean that the state would not take administrative decisions.
Hearing the matter today, the judges observed that there cannot be a blanket ban on such decisions on the ground that Code of Conduct is in force.

Government pleader K V Saste informed that the application of Motorwala was not pending and that the decision had not been taken so far because police report was awaited.
However, the court observed that the government had to take such decisions quickly instead of sitting on the files and keeping the matter pending.
"It is your (government's) prerogative to decide whether to grant extension of parole or not (to do so). Please decide and communicate to the applicant so that he can move the appropriate authorities to redress his grievance if any," the court said.

Motorwala had been released on parole on February 28 this year. He was convicted in 2006 in the 1993 bomb blasts case on charges of consipiracy. A series of explosions had rocked the city on March 12, 1993 killing hundreds of people and injuring many others.