Criminal Misc. No. 3751-M of 2008 -1- **** IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Misc. No. 3751-M of 2008 Date of decision : 18.11.2008 Gurnam Singh .....Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and another ...Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. D. ANAND Present: .None for the petitioner. Ms. Manjari Nehru, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab **** S. D. ANAND, J. The parole plea raised by the petitioner was declined by the competent authority vide order dated 19.11.2007 (Annexure R-2) on the basis of report furnished by the District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police to the effect that “the prisoner can again start the activity and can misguide the youth of the village to indulge in the activity.” Though the grant of parole is not a right vested in a prisoner, it also cannot be said that a parole plea can be declined on the basis of a vague apprehension indicated by the District Magistrate/Senior Superintendent of Police. The principle of transparency validates the view that the authority competent to consider the request of a prisoner under incarceration must announce to the applicant the reasons for disallowance thereof. The impugned order deserves invalidation as it fails the test of being self-contained and transparent. The competent authority also did not indicate that petitioner-prisoner is already convicted in any other case Criminal Misc. No. 3751-M of 2008 -2- **** of has previous history of committing such crime. The petition shall stand disposed of with a direction to the Competent Authority to take a decision afresh on the parole plea of the petitioner – prisoner in the light of observations made in the fore-going para within one month from today. It will be for the State counsel to communicate the order to the Competent Authority. Copy of the order be given to the learned State counsel under the signatures of the Court Secretary. November 18, 2008 (S. D. ANAND) Pka JUDGE