New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS): A Delhi Court on Wednesday pulled up the Delhi government over the delay in deciding the grant of sanctions to prosecute in the JNU sedition case.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Manish Khurana, while posting the matter for October 25, reprimanded the Delhi government over the delay.

"It is expected of the Delhi government that the decision regarding the sanction or otherwise would be taken within one month so that further processing in the present case may be done," the court said.

The Arvind Kejriwal government, which has been dragging its feet on giving sanctions to prosecute the students involved in the 2016 incident, said that the file has been pending with the Deputy Secretary Home Department and the matter was under consideration.

The Kejriwal government on Wednesday informed the court that no decision had been taken yet. The reply also states that the concerned file is pending before the Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who is also handling the Home portfolio.

The public prosecutor has filed a reply by submitting a letter in the court.

On February 9, 2016, "anti-national" slogans were allegedly raised at the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus during a programme called to protest against the death sentence handed out to Afzal Guru, a convict in the 2002 Parliament attack.

The 1,200-page charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police Crime Branch names 10 JNU students, including Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and seven Kashmiri students, as the main accused in the case.

The charge sheet says the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) retrieved the "SMS sent by Umar Khalid to Kanhaiya Kumar to arrive at Sabarmati Dhaba, JNU, as their permission (to hold the protest) had been cancelled by the University administration".

The final pages of the charge sheet also confirm the presence of Kashmiri students during the protest and that they were in contact with Umar Khalid.