The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed concern on the Tamil Nadu governor sitting for more than two years over the remission plea of A.G. Perarivalan, who is serving a life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, as the top court said it would examine the law on release of prisoners in such situations.

“We don’t want to exercise our jurisdiction, but we are not happy with how this recommendation has been pending for two years. Tell us what the law and cases are which can allow us to do it. We can hear this after vacation,” Justice L. Nageswara Rao, heading the bench, told senior advocate Gopal Sankarnarayan appearing for the convict.

The bench, also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Hemant Gupta, was dealing with a petition filed by Perarivalan saying that though he made a plea for remission in January 2018, it had not been considered by the governor.

The bench asked Sankarnarayan to do more research on the issue of jurisprudence in such matters.

Additional solicitor-general K.M. Natraj, appearing for Centre, told the bench that since it was a case of larger conspiracy, the CBI was waiting for certain inputs pursuant to the letter rogatory sent by the agency to various foreign countries.

“… the larger conspiracy angle is pending for 20 years and you still at the stage of getting replies!” Justice Rao said, while adjourning the matter to November 23.