SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 25 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Consider the following statements: 1. Both President and Governor can grant pardons under Article 72. 2. The Governor cannot pardon in cases of death sentence. Which of the above statements is/are correct?

(a)Only 1
(b)Only 2
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Statement 1 is false. The President's pardoning power is in Article 72. The Governor's is in Article 161, a separate provision.

Statement 2 is true. Article 72(1)(c) gives the President the power 'in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death'. Article 72(3) saves only the Governor's power to suspend, remit or commute a death sentence, not to pardon it.

Only 2 → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Only 1 — Statement 1 is false. Article 72 is the President's power alone. The Governor pardons under Article 161, a different article.
(c)
Both 1 and 2 — Statement 1 fails, so both cannot stand. The two powers sit in two articles: 72 for the President and 161 for the Governor.
(d)
Neither 1 nor 2 — Statement 2 is true. Only the President can pardon a death sentence, under Article 72(1)(c). The Governor can suspend, remit or commute it.

Concept

Article 72 lets the President grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions, or suspend, remit or commute a sentence, in three kinds of case: sentences by a Court Martial, offences against Union laws, and every sentence of death.

Article 161 gives the Governor the same set of powers for offences against laws on matters within the State's executive power. It has no Court Martial clause.

The words matter. A pardon removes both the sentence and the conviction. A commutation swaps a punishment for a lighter one, such as death for imprisonment. For a death sentence, the Governor has the second power but not the first.

A 2021 case does not change this. State of Haryana v Raj Kumar (Supreme Court, 3 August 2021) concerned a life convict.

It held that release before 14 years is possible only under Article 161, and did not rule on pardoning a death sentence.

Key facts

Article 72: the President's power to pardon, including in all cases where the sentence is death.
Article 161: the Governor's power to pardon, for offences against laws within the State's executive power.
Article 72(3) preserves the Governor's power to suspend, remit or commute a death sentence.
The Governor has no pardoning power over sentences passed by a Court Martial.

Study next

The five forms of clemency: pardon, commutation, remission, respite and reprieveJudicial review of mercy petitions: Kehar Singh and Epuru SudhakarPresident and Governor compared on ordinances (Articles 123 and 213)

Common traps

Assuming one Article covers both offices: the President's power is Article 72, the Governor's is Article 161.
Reading 'cannot pardon a death sentence' as 'can do nothing about it': the Governor can still suspend, remit or commute one.

A President-versus-Governor comparison in the same two-statement form is asked at 13 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.25, on the power to dissolve the lower House.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: General Policy — all 308 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.