 bill no 91 of 2015 the constitution (amendment) bill, 2015 by shrimati darshana vikram jardosh, mp a billfurther to amend the constitution of indiabe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:— 1  (1) this act may be called the constitution (amendment) act, 2015short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date, as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint"(1a) save as otherwise provided in clause (1), 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 referred to in clause (1) shall be exercised by the president within a period of eighteen months from the date of receipt of the petition of mercy: provided 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" statement of objects and reasonsarticle 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 an offence mentioned in that article 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 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 which is tax payers money and a drain on national exchequer in the present situation, attempts are being made both externally and internally to hurt harmony and cohesiveness of our civil society in the form of terrorist activities or other such heinous crimesthe persons who commit such heinous crimes misuse the provision of mercy petition to delay the sentence as disposal of such petitions take several yearsit is high time that such inordinate delay in disposal of mercy petitions be addressed to by providing that the power of the president to grant pardon, reprieve, respite or remission of punishment etc must be exercised within eighteen months of the receipt of the mercy petitionhence this billnew delhi;darshana vikram jardoshfebruary 26, 2015 annexure extract from the constitution of india    72 (1) the president shall have the power to grant pardons, reprives, 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; (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;power of president to grant pardons, etc, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases(c) in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death    ———— a billfurther to amend the constitution of india————(shrimati darshana vikram jardosh, mp)gmgipmrnd—5614ls(s3)—15-04-2015