The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to respond in two weeks to Beant Singh assassination case convict Balwant Singh Rajoana’s mercy plea seeking commutation of his death sentence to life term on account of inordinate delay.Rajoana (58), a former Punjab Police constable, has been in jail for more than 29 years, awaiting his execution. The then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and 17 others were killed in an explosion outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. Rajoana was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special court. A mercy petition filed by the SGPC on his behalf has been hanging fire for more than 13 years.”Why have you not filed your counter-affidavit so far?…” a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Vijay Bishnoi asked the counsel appearing for the Centre.While giving two weeks to the Centre to file the affidavit, the Bench made it clear that no further time would be granted.As the Centre’s counsel said they wanted to place some documents before the court in a sealed cover, the Bench said, “You file your counter-affidavit otherwise his (Rajoana’s) allegations are uncontroverted… You place your affidavit whatever you want to say.”On behalf of Rajoana, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi pointed out that the mercy plea filed by the SGPC on behalf of the petitioner in March 2012 was still pending.He added that the top court had in 2023 said the authorities should take a call on the mercy plea.Referring to the top court’s September 24, 2025 order, Rohatgi recalled the court had said any further request for adjournment in the matter at the instance of the respondents would not be entertained.Citing Devender Pal Singh Bhullar’s case, the petitioner had claimed that the “delay caused by circumstances beyond the prisoners’ control mandates commutation of death sentence” as the inordinate delay caused agony and adversely affected his physical and mental health.Earlier, the MHA had contended that Rajaona’s mercy petition could not be considered as it was filed by the SGPC and not by Rajoana himself and that it could not be decided until the appeals of other convicts were decided by the top court. Considering the prevailing situation, a decision has been taken by the MHA that it would be appropriate to defer any decision on the mercy petition as it could potentially compromise national security and create a law and order situation, it had said.