Court case(1981) 1 SCC 107

Section 433A was inserted in the Code of Criminal Procedure in 1978. It provides that a person sentenced to life imprisonment for an offence punishable with death, or whose death sentence has been commuted to life, shall not be released unless he has served at least fourteen years. A large number of life convicts, Maru Ram among them, challenged the section, arguing that it was arbitrary, that it applied retrospectively, and that it cut down the sovereign power of pardon and remission under Articles 72 and 161.

The Court upheld section 433A as a valid exercise of legislative power which does not and cannot touch Articles 72 and 161; the constitutional power stands untouched and can override the fourteen-year rule. The power under Articles 72 and 161 is not the private act of the President or Governor: it must be exercised on the advice of the appropriate Government, as every other executive power. Krishna Iyer J said that all public power, including constitutional power, must be exercised fairly and for the public good, never arbitrarily or mala fide, and suggested that the Government should frame guidelines so that the power is applied in a consistent manner. Political vendetta, caste or religion as a ground would be an abuse of power. Section 433A was held prospective: it applies only to convictions after 18 December 1978.