Prodding the States to speed up decisions pertaining to death-row convicts, the Supreme Court on Wednesday set March 1 as the deadline for them to apprise it of the steps taken to dispose pending mercy pleas.

In the event any State failed to supply the necessary information, the Court warned that “they will be doing so at their own risk.” A bench of Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhyay were pained to note how some States had yet to supply information on the status of mercy petitions pending with their respective Governor’s office. The bench got cracking on the erring States, giving them three days’ time from the date of receipt of the Court order to communicate the relevant information “in writing or telephonically”.

The Court charged the Home Secretaries concerned in each State to supply the required data to the office of the respective Additional Solicitor General (ASG) in the Supreme Court dealing with the case. The Court asked advocate Siddharth Dave, who appeared for the Centre, to come prepared with the data by the next date of hearing.

It was a petition filed by death row prisoner Devender Pal Singh Bhullar that forced the Court to take notice on the plight faced by such convicts. “We want to know what all was done from the date mercy petitions reached competent authority,” the bench said.