Explanation:

All of the above statements are correct.

• In ordering the release of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case convict A G Perarivalan, the Supreme Court invoked the extraordinary power conferred on the court under Article 142 of the Constitution.

Important Articles

• The court ruled that inexplicable delay by the Governor in exercising powers under Article 161 is subject to judicial review.

Article 142

• Article 142 of the Constitution of India provides a special and extraordinary power to the Supreme Court to do complete justice to the litigants who have suffered traversed illegality or injustice in the proceedings.
• Article 142, which started out as draft article 118, was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on May 27, 1949.
• Some important cases in this regard are ‘Prem Chand Garg v. Excise Commissioner, U.P., Allahabad’ (1962); ‘A.R. Antulay v. R.S. Nayak & Anr’ (1988); ‘Union Carbide Corporation v. Union of India’ (1991); and ‘Supreme Court Bar Association v. Union of India’ (1998).
• ‘Antulay’ was decided by a seven-judge Bench; the other three cases were decided by five-judge Benches.
• Prohibitions on limitations on provisions contained in ordinary laws cannot, ipso-facto, act as prohibitions or limitations on the constitutional powers under Article 142.
• In ‘Supreme Court Bar Association’, the court ruled that its powers under Article 142 were supplementary in nature, and could not supplant substantive law and “build a new edifice where none existed earlier”.

Article 142 in Ayodhya Verdict

• The court said while “the power under Article 142, is not limitless”, the Constitution “authorizes the court to pass orders to secure complete justice”.
• Article 142, it said, “embodies both the notion of justice, equity and good conscience as well as a supplementary power to the court to effect complete justice”.
• The court used the extraordinary powers under this provision to grant 5 acres of land in Ayodhya situated outside the disputed area to Muslim parties, saying, in an implicit reference to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, that it was invoking Article 142 “to ensure that a wrong committed must be remedied”.

Hence option 4th is correct.