Delhi Court August 1986 Judgments

Amrit Lal Seth Vs. Union of India and anr.

Court: Delhi

Reported in: AIR1987Delhi340; 28(1985)DLT396

Prakash Narain, C.J.(1) For years now the superior courts in our country have been at pains to point out that preventive detention under the preventive detention laws is permissible only by a strict and meticulous compliance with the provisions of the relevant preventive detention law sought to be invoked and the provisions of the Constitution. Time and again, the Courts have had to, though with some regaret, order a detenu to be set at liberty because of lapses on the part of the administrative authorities. This is yet one other such case. (2) The petitioner, Amrit, Lal Seth has been detained by virtue of an order dated July 21, 1984 passed by an Additional Secretary to the Government of India in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3(1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 with a view to preventing him from smuggling goods and abetting the smuggling of goods. The petitioner challenges the said detention order and his continue...