Judgement

B. C. RAY, J. : - The petitioners who are life convicts in this writ petition have assailed a D.O. Letter No. 4665/1983GI/G4/R. 10-84 dated 24-4-1985 issued by the respondent No. 3, Inspector General of Prisons, Haryana, Chandigarh intimating to the Superintendent of Jail that convicts who are on bail and whose sentences are suspended are excluded from the remissions systems in view of the provisions of Para 637 of the Punjab Jail Manual on the ground that the aforesaid letter purports to deprive the petitioners from the benefit of remissions of 19 months and 12 days granted to them during the period they were on bail, while counting the total period of sentence including remissions undergone by them in order to consider their cases of premature release from imprisonment.

2. The petitioner No. 1, Jai Prakash was convicted by the District and Sessions Judge, Bhiwani, on December 4, 1975 under S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code and he was awarded life imprisonment. Against this judgment and order of the Sessions Judge he preferred an appeal before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and he was granted bail on 12-1-1976. This appeal, however, was dismissed on 28-9-1978 and he was arrested on 29-1-1979 while he was going to the Court to surrender himself to serve out the remaining part of the sentence as stated by him. The petitioner has stated that during the period he was on bail he earned remission of 19 months and 12 days.

3. Similarly, the petitioners Nos. 2 to 5 were also convicted by the District and Sessions Judge, Bhiwani, on 23-3-1976 in a case under S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code and they were awarded life imprisonment. Petitioners Nos. 2 to 5 were directed to be released on bail by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana during the pendency of their appeal by order dated 7-4-1976. The appeal was however dismissed by the High Court on 8-12-1978 and they surrendered themselves before the Magistrate on 16-2- 1979 for serving out their remaining part of sentence. The petitioners Nos. 2 to 5 were also given remissions of 19 months and 12 days during the period they remained on bail.

4. It has been stated that though all the petitioners were given remissions of 19 months and 12 days and they were under the impression that the period of remission earned by them would be taken into consideration under Para 637 of Punjab Jail Manual while computing their sentence under Para 516-B of the Punjab Jail Manual. They have now been informed by the respondent No. 3 as per his letter dated 24-4-1985 addressed to the Superintendent, District Jail, Bhiwani, respondent No. 2, that the convicts who were on bail and whose sentences were suspended would be excluded from the remissions purported to be earned by them while they were on bail. The petitioners have submitted that a number of prisoners to whom remissions were given during the period when they were on bail were also released by the State Government after taking into consideration the remissions granted to them during the period when they were on bail or that their sentence had been suspended. Names of six persons were mentioned in the petition who were prematurely released. It has been submitted on behalf of the petitioners that they are entitled to have their period of remissions earned by them during the period they were on bail, to be taken into account for consideration of their premature release under Para 637 of the Punjab Jail Manual. It has been further submitted that the aforesaid letter issued by the respondent No. 3 laying down guidelines and instructions to respondent No. 2, that is, Superintendent of District Jail, Bhiwani, is contrary to the provisions contained in Para 637 of Punjab Jail Manual. The petitioners have also stated that since they surrendered themselves before the jail authority after dismissal of their appeals by the High Court they are entitled to have the period of remissions earned by them to be counted while considering the total period of sentence