Thirteen mercy petitions, including that of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, were pending with the government, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran said convicts whose mercy petitions were pending with government are Gurmeet Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Dharam Pal (Haryana), Suresh and Ramji (UP), Simon, Gnana Prakash, Madaiah and Bilavendra (Karnataka) and Praveen Kumar (Karnataka).
Others whose petitions are pending are Mohammad Afzal Guru (Delhi), Saibanna (Karnataka), Jafar Ali (UP), Sonia and Sanjeev (Haryana), Sunder Singh (Uttarakhand), Balwant Singh Rajoana (Chandigarh), Maganlal (Madhya Pradesh) and B A Umesh Reddy (Karnataka).
Ramachandran said 24 mercy petitions, including that of Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab, who was hanged on November 21, have been disposed of since 2009.
"Expeditious action is taken for disposal of mercy petitions; however, the power under Article 72 of the Constitution does not contain any limitation as to the time, in which the power conferred might be exercised," he said.
