Governor is bound by council of ministers’ advice on release of convicts from prison: Madras high court

CHENNAI: Madras high court on Thursday held that in matters relating to remission and premature release of convict prisoners, the governor is bound by the advice of the council of ministers (CoM), regardless of whether the governor likes that advice or not.

"And under no circumstance, the governor can exercise discretion to take a different view from the one taken by the CoM," a full bench of Justice A D Jagadish Chandra, Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan and Justice Sunder Mohan said.


When the division bench of the court took up a plea moved by one Eswaran against the Tamil Nadu govt for hearing, the petitioner submitted that his premature release was considered by the state cabinet and, thereafter, the papers relating thereto were sent to the governor, who acted in his discretion and rejected the same, which is unsustainable in the eyes of law.

While considering the plea, the bench noticed an apparent dichotomy in the views taken by two division benches of this court in Veera Bharathi vs State and Murugan alias Thirumalai Murugan vs State.

In the Veera Bharathi case, it was held that the advice of the CoM binds the governor. Per contra, in Murugan alias Thirumalai Murugan case, reliance was placed on the ruling of the constitution bench of the Supreme Court in M P Special Police Establishment case and held that the same permits the governor to act in his own discretion when, on facts, bias becomes apparent or the decision of the CoM is shown to be irrational and based on the non-consideration of relevant factors.

Therefore, the present division bench of Justice M S Ramesh (since retired) and Justice V Lakshminarayanan referred the issue to be answered by a full bench of the court.