New Delhi, Oct. 9 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday summarily rejected the Union government's plea seeking stricter timelines for death row convicts to avail legal remedies, and for executions to be carried out within seven days after rejection of a mercy petition. A bench comprising justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria observed that there was no merit in the application and that the 2014 Shatrughan Chauhan judgment, which the Centre wanted modified, was complete in all aspects. The Centre's plea, argued through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj, wanted certain modifications to the 2014 judgment so that the framework for death penalty cases factored in the rights and agony of victims, besides addressing the prolonged uncertainty faced by convicts. During the brief hearing on Wednesday, the top court refused to modify the previous judgment even as it told ASG Nataraj that the Centre would be at liberty to push for some of the measures it has pressed for in its application in appropriate proceedings. In Shatrughan Chauhan's case, the top court held that delays beyond of the convicts' control qualify as grounds for commuting the death penalty, holding that the pain and suffering brought on by the delay warrant commutation of sentence to life in prison. On September 24, ASG Nataraj mentioned the matter for an expedited hearing of the Centre's plea. "The government is seeking modifications in the earlier judgment to ensure that the process does not continue endlessly with mercy petitions, review and curative pleas. Victims also suffer when executions are delayed," ASG Nataraj told the bench on the day. He added that the delay not only causes excruciating wait for convicts but also frustrates the victims' families and society at large. The government's push for strict timelines on executions came on a day when, in a separate case, the same bench pulled up the Centre for sitting over Balwant Singh Rajoana's mercy plea and failing to execute him even 15 years after his death sentence was confirmed, despite there being no stay from the court. Rajoana was sentenced to death in connection with the 1995 assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. In the present case, the ministry of home affairs had moved the modification application in 2020 when multiple legal remedies filed one after the other by the four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case delayed their execution. They were eventually hanged in March 2020 after the top court, in a midnight sitting, dismissed their last petition. In its application, the Centre urged the court to declare that curative petitions must be filed only within a stipulated time after dismissal of a review petition....