The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the home secretaries of all states to send details related to pending mercy petitions before the central government within three days.

A bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya today gave the direction after the central government informed the court that it could not file detailed report on the pending mercy petitions in various states as the states have not responded to the court’s order.

The bench during the brief hearing expressed its concern over the delay in taking decision on mercy pleas by the central and state government giving example of a case in which the decision was taken after a period of 11 years.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Devender Pal Singh, to relax the death penalty awarded to him by giving him a life sentence on the ground that there has been an "inordinate" delay in deciding his mercy petition. His counsel had also claimed that he was not mentally sound. His mercy petition filed before the President was rejected last year.