Court case(2006) 8 SCC 161

Gowru Venkata Reddy, a Congress worker, was convicted of murdering two persons during political violence and sentenced to ten years' rigorous imprisonment. Within a short time the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, on the advice of the State Government, remitted the unexpired portion of his sentence under Article 161. The remission was recommended on the footing that he was 'a good Congress worker' who had been falsely implicated by the rival party, and that his conduct in jail was good. The son of one of the victims, Epuru Sudhakar, challenged the order.

The order was quashed. Pasayat J held that the exercise of the power under Articles 72 and 161 is subject to judicial review, and listed the grounds: (a) the order has been passed without application of mind; (b) the order is mala fide; (c) it has been passed on extraneous or wholly irrelevant considerations; (d) relevant materials have been kept out of consideration; (e) the order suffers from arbitrariness. The remission here rested on the convict's political affiliation, which is a wholly irrelevant consideration; the file showed that the Governor was not told of the true facts and that the recommendation misstated his conduct in jail. Kapadia J, concurring, said that the power of pardon is a constitutional duty governed by the rule of law, and that the exercise of a public power on the ground of political loyalty is an abuse of power.