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Wednesday, Oct 18, 2006
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Supreme Court directs Venkat Reddy to surrender

J. Venkatesan

Suspension of sentence declined on oral mention

NEW DELHI: As a fallout of last week's judgment quashing the order passed by former Andhra Pradesh Governor Sushil Kumar Shinde granting remission of sentence, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Congress leader Gouru Venkat Reddy to immediately surrender before the police to serve the remaining sentence period.

A Bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S.H. Kapadia declined to suspend the operation of the sentence on an oral `mention' made by senior counsel Altaf Ahmed on behalf of Venkat Reddy.

Counsel while pleading for suspending the sentence sought some time for Venkat Reddy to surrender. The court had not specified any time limit for the Governor to dispose of the fresh petition seeking pardon and remission of sentence, he said, and requested the Bench to fix a timeframe within which the petition should be disposed of.

The Bench told counsel: "Once the Governor's order is set aside you have to surrender. We cannot fix any time limit for the Governor."

Allowing a writ petition filed by Epuru Sudhakar and others challenging the Governor's order, the Bench had said: "It is open to the Governor to treat the petition as a pending one for the purpose of reconsideration. It shall be open to the Governor to take note of material placed before him by the functionaries of the State, and also to make such enquiries as considered necessary and relevant for the purpose of ascertaining the relevant factors otherwise." According to a report from Kurnool, the police were ready for shifting Venkata Reddy to prison following the Supreme Court's directive.

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