 bill no 267 of  2016 the constitution (amendment) bill, 2016 byshri nishikant dubey, mp a billfurther to amend the constitution of indiabe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:amendment of article 722 after clause (1) of article 72 of the constitution, the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—"(1a) save as otherwise provided in clause (1), the power referred to in clause (1) shall be exercised by the president within a period of six months from the date of receipt of the petition of mercy:5provided that if the president does not exercise the power within the aforesaid period, it shall be deemed that the petition of mercy has been declined and the orders of the court in respect of the petitioner shall be enforced immediately" statement of objects and reasonsindia is one of the largest democracies in the world it gained freedom in 1947 from the british rule after a prolonged struggle and sacrifice of sons of the soil the constitution was drafted keeping in view the welfare of the citizens though the utmost care was taken while drafting the constitution to meet expectations of the citizens but there have been occasions when need arose for amending the constitution to keep pace with the changing scenario in the countryarticle 72 of the constitution empowers the president to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence though the president has been bestowed with absolute powers in this regard, no time limit has been fixed within which such power has to be exercised as a result, the mercy petitions made before the president are kept pending for a long period without any decision as a fall out of this, the convicts are to be kept guarded in jails and heavy expenditure is incurred upon them in the present situation, attempts are being made both externally and internally to hurt the harmony and vibrancy of our civil society and we are continuously facing terrorist attacks it is high time to curb anti-national activities and for that, if death penalty is awarded to a convict by any court after considering the circumstances which led them to reach such a decision based upon the gravity of the crime and such person files mercy petition before the president of india, the decision on such mercy petition should be taken within six months in order to send a strong signal among anti-national elements and to check their nefarious activitieshence this bill annexure extract from the constitution of india    72 (1) the president shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence—(a) in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a court martial;power of president to grant pardons, etc, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases(b) in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the union extends;(c) in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death     lok sabha———— a billfurther to amend the constitution of india————(shri nishikant dubey, mp)gmgipmrnd—2877ls(s3)—17112016