PIL in Delhi HC seeks direction to authorities to convene SRB meeting every 3 months

A PIL has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Delhi government and the Director General of Prisons to convene the meeting of Sentence Review Board (SRB) every three months in compliance with the rules.

The plea said as per the SRB order of July 16, 2004 and Delhi Prison Rules, 2018, the board shall meet at least once in a quarter to convene the meeting and pointed out that between October 2018 to October 2019, the board had convened only once on July 19 this year.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar is likely to hear on Monday the petition filed by advocate Amit Sahni.

The SRB was constituted to review the sentence awarded to a prisoner undergoing life imprisonment and make recommendations about cases of premature release in appropriate cases.

"The respondents (Delhi government and Director General of Prisons) are duty bound to comply with the notification/rules but to the reasons best known to the respondents, between October 2018 to October 2019 the SRB had convened only once, that is, July 19, 2019, thereby causing hardship to those, who otherwise qualify all parameters for consideration but are not considered since SRB meetings are not convened in every quarter as envisaged under the SRB Order dated July 16, 2004 and Delhi Prison Rules, 2018," the petition said.

According to the SRB order and the prison rules, it shall be open to the chairman of the board to convene the meeting more frequently as may be deemed necessary, it added.

The petitioner said he has made a representation to the authorities on October 4, requesting them to implement the mandate of the SRB order and the prison rules and ensure that the board meeting is convened in every quarter without fail.

He said the authorities have not responded to the representation yet.