Kathmandu, March 9 -- The Supreme Court has ruled that granting pardon or commuting jail terms of the convicts is not an absolute arbitrary authority of the executive. Issuing a full text of the decision to annul the granting of a presidential pardon to Yog Raj Dhakal, aka Regal, a murder convict affiliated with the Nepali Congress, the apex court has set different criteria that need to be adhered to before taking such a decision.

On the recommendation of the Cabinet, President Ramchandra Paudel had on the eve of the 8th Constitution Day on October 19 last year pardoned the remaining jail terms of 670 convicts, including Dhakal. In July 2015, Dhakal, a local Congress worker and gangster from Banke, had killed Chetan Manandhar using domes...