Chennai, June 17 (BPNS)

The Madras High Court on Friday refused to direct the Tamil Nadu government to release Nalini and Ravichandran, convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, without getting the assent of the Governor.

The order regarding the same was passed by the first bench of the Madras High Court comprising of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and N .Mala dismissing the pleas moved by Nalini and Ravichandran.

The bench while passing the order said that the high court does not have special powers that the Supreme Court has under Article 142 of the constitution.

Nalini and Ravichandran in their pray before the High Court said that they were justified in seeking the relief as Supreme Court has categorically said that the governor is bound by the recommendations of the state cabinet in Perarivalan case, who was released by the Supreme Court on May 18, 2022.

The petitioners said that they were seeking a direction to the state government to release them without waiting for the assent of the Tamil Nadu governor.

Advocate General ,R. Shanmughasundaram representing the state of Tamil Nadu submitted before the first bench that the Supreme court had while explaining the powers of a governor in the judgment clearly said that the assent of the governor was a must. He however said that the high court has powers to consider the issue.

It may be noted that the Murugan alias Sriharan, Nalini wife of Murugan, Santhan, Robert Pious, Jayakumar, Ravichandran, and Perarivalan were the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case of May 21, 1991. Of this Perarivalan was released by the Supreme Court on May 18, 2022, and following the release of Perarivalan, Nalini and Ravichandran have moved the Madras High Court to release them without the assent of the Governor which was rejected by the first bench of the court.