PTI 
 
Chennai, Jul 21: A man sentenced to life imprisonment in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case on Thursday moved the Madras High Court to grant him premature release on the ground that he had already been held in prison for over 14 years.

When the petition by Robert Payas, a Sri Lankan Tamil, came up for hearing, Justice K Raviraja Pandian ordered notices to be issued to the Tamil Nadu government and prison officials to seek their response in the matter.

Payas, convicted of murder and criminal conspiracy in the assassination case, claimed that he was entitled to premature release according to guidelines and policy of the state government as well as under Article 161 of the Constitution.

Stating that he had made a representation on December 28, 2004 to the superintendent of the Central Prison in Vellore, where he is being held, seeking premature release, Payas contended his request was not considered on the ground that a report from a probation officer in Sri Lanka was essential for him being released.

Claiming that the requirement of the probation officer's report was "unfair and unreasonable" and "is impossible of compliance," he claimed that he could not be denied premature release only on this ground.

The government's failure to release him would violate Article 21 of the Constitution, he said, adding that the authorities had to only determine whether there was a possibility of him committing a crime in future, whether a convict had lost his potentiality of committing a crime and whether there would be any fruitful purpose of confining a convict further.