POONAM LATA Vs. M L WADHAWAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution, the petitioner Smt. Poonam Lata has asked for the issue of a writ of habeas corpus for the release of her husband, Shital Kumar who has been detained by an order passed by the Additional Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, date February 28, 1986, made under S. 3(1) of Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling. Activities Act, 1974, (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'), on being satisfied that it was necessary to detain him "with a view to preventing him from dealing in smuggled goods".

(2.) Put very briefly, the essential facts are these. The Directorate of Enforcement, New Delhi, gathered intelligence over a period of time before making of the impugned order of detention which revealed that the detenu was engaged in receiving smuggled gold from across the Indo-Nepal Border and was making payments in foreign currency and remitting the sale proceeds of such smuggled gold out of the country in the shape of U. S. Dollars with the help of carriers. On February 26, 1986, the Directorate received information that the three carriers, namely, Ram Deo Thakur, Shyam Thakur and Bhushan Thakur would be leaving under the assumed names of Dalip, Mukesh and Rajesh respectively by 154 Dn. Jayanti Janta Express leaving New Delhi Railway Station at 6.45 p.m. Accordingly, the officers of the Delhi Zone of the Directorate mounted surveillance at Platform No. 5 of the Railway Station from which the train was to steam off. The said carriers were detrained and upon search of their baggage, the officers recovered $ 29,750 and Rs. 1,500/- from Ram Deo Thakur alias Dalip, $ 28,900 and Rs. 650/- from Shyam Thakur alias Mukesh and $ 20,000 and Rs. 1,000/- from Bhushan Thakur alias Rajesh, The same were seized under S. 110(1) of the Customs Act, 1962. The total value of the seized foreign currency was equivalent to Rs. 10,25,000/- in round figure. During interrogation by the officers under S. 108 of the Customs Act, these persons stated that the seized foreign currency totalling $ 78,650 had been paid by the detenu towards the price of 48 gold biscuits of foreign origin brought by them from Darbhanga to New Delhi and made over to him and accordingly the detenu was taken into custody on February 27, 1986. He too made a statement under S. 108 of the Act confessing that he was dealing in smuggled gold brought across the Indo-Nepal Border and has been remitting the price of such gold in U.S. dollars through different carriers.

(3.) On February 28, 1986, the detenu was served with the impugned order of detention along with the grounds thereof and copies of the relevant documents relied upon in the ground. On March 25, 1986, the detenu submitted a representation under S. 8(b) of the Act and the detaining authority by its order of April 4, 1986 rejected the same. On April 12, 1986, the detenu made a representation to the Advisory Board through the Superintendent of the Central Jail, Tihar. The representation together with comments of the detaining authority and the relevant documents were forwarded by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue to the Advisory Board. On the same day the detenu appears to have made a representation to the Central Government and it was received in the Ministry of Finance on April 24, 1986. The Minister of State for Finance rejected the said representation on April 29, 1986 and the detenu was informed about it the following day. The Advisory Board had its sittings on April 28 and 29, 1986, and came to the conclusion that there was sufficient cause for the detention and sent its report on May 8, 1986. The Minister considered the report of the Advisory Board and confirmed the order of detention on May 14,1986 and the Central Government's order of confirmation was duly communicated on May 26, 1986.