Expressing concern over delay by the Centre and State governments in deciding mercy pleas of prisoners on death row, the Supreme Court today sought from them the records of all such cases.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhyay said that the home secretaries of all the states must send the records of all cases of mercy pleas to states within three days to the Centre, which would then place the same before it.

The court also made it clear that if records are not sent by the state governments, they would do so at their own risk. The bench added there have been cases where mercy pleas were decided after 11 years, which is a sufficiently long time. The court brushed aside the Centre's contention that delay was caused due to repeated petitions filed by condemned prisoners in courts.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Punjab terrorist Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, who was awarded death penalty for triggering a bomb blast in New Delhi in September 1993, killing nine people.