The Supreme Court has asked the Centre if a mercy petition can be filed to the Governor if it has already been rejected by the President. The court's question came in an apparent reference to the 1993 Mumbai blasts case convict Yakub Memon, who submitted a mercy petition for the Maharashtra Governor, in a last-ditch effort to prevent execution of his death sentence, likely on the 30th of this month. Memon's curative petition was dismissed by the apex court on Tuesday after which he filed a mercy petition to the Governor. His mercy petitions have already been rejected by the apex court and President Pranab Mukherjee earlier.<br/><br/>Answering the court's question, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar yesterday said that if there are dire changes in the 'then and now' scenario, a mercy petition can be filed to the Governor despite being rejected by the President. He said that there are no such objections in the existing act, but repeated filing of mercy pleas frustrates the principle of finality. The court also asked the Centre whether it should lay down the law on the procedure for moving mercy petitions. The Solicitor General agreed to take instructions from the government on the questions and get back to the court. The court was hearing the matter related to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassins.