LUCKNOW, April 21 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has directed the state's additional chief secretary/principal secretary (prison administration and reforms) to file a personal affidavit (reply) placing on record relevant data relating to prisoners who have completed 14 years of imprisonment across Uttar Pradesh and whose cases are eligible for consideration of sentence remission. The court sought details of prisoners in whose cases statutory formalities, including preparation and forwarding of Form-A under the UP Prisoners' Release on Probation Act, 1938, have been completed. It also directed the state to disclose how many cases seeking remission are still pending before the competent authority, the duration of such pendency and the reasons for delay. The affidavit will also have to specify the number of applications forwarded for consideration of remission and the number of cases in which remission has been granted, the high court said. A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla passed the order on April 8 while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2020 by Bijay Kumar Singh Parmar, a local lawyer who raised a matter of public interest concerning the prisoners who are not in a position to raise their grievances for their legal rights. "What steps are being taken by the state government to ensure orderly forwarding of Form-A and other applications for considering remission of sentence under the aforesaid statutes, so that a decision is taken in this regard at the earliest. What are the measures in place in this regard and whether periodical monitoring of such applications, etc is being done or not," the court directed. The PIL raised issues concerning the alleged non-fulfilment of statutory obligations by jail authorities in facilitating consideration of remission of sentence for eligible prisoners lodged in Uttar Pradesh jails. The petition refers to provisions under Sections 433 and 433-A of the Criminal Procedure Code, Section 474 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, the UP Prisoners' Release on Probation Act, 1938, and the Rules of 1938. The bench had noted that although the state had filed a counter-affidavit (reply) in 2022, it did not contain the required data regarding prisoners who had completed 14 years of incarceration, the status of statutory formalities or the pendency of remission proceedings. In view of this, the high court directed the ACS/principal secretary (prison administration and reforms) to file a fresh affidavit with complete details. "Let the petitioner implead the additional chief secretary/principal secretary (prison administration and reforms), Government of UP, Lucknow, as the opposite party No. 3 during course of the day, who shall file his own affidavit in compliance of our order dated 19.01.2026," the court ordered. The matter has been listed for further hearing on May 11 and will be taken up among the top 10 cases.MANOJ KUMAR SINGH...