New Delhi, Oct.17: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a petition filed by V Ravichandran, a convict serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, seeking his premature release on the ground that he has already undergone a jail term of 14 years.

Supreme Court Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Mr. Justice P Sathasivam issued the notice after Ravichandran''s counsel urged that his client''s plea for release be considered by the Advisory Board along with three others Nalini, S.Jeyakumar and Robert Payas whose application is already pending with the State Government.

The Madras High Court had last month directed the Advisory Board to consider afresh the applications of Nalini, S. Jeyakumar and Robert Payas for early release.

An earlier advisory board had rejected the plea of the three convicts upon which they had filed petitions in the High Court.(ANI)