DOCTOR PESI EDULJEE MEHTA Vs. ADDITIONAL DISTRICT MAGISTRATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner Doctor Pesi Eduljee Mehta is a' consultant engineer by profession. He is in detention. He seeks a writ of habeas corpus challenging the validity of his detention.

(2.) The Additional District Magistrate, Delhi, Mr. V. K. Duggal, passed an order of detention on April 18, 1977 under sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, 1971, (26 of 1971) (the Act), directing that the petitioner be detained on the ground that it was necessary to do so "with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of India". Immediately he was served with the grounds. of detention dated April 18, 1977.

(3.) The substance of the grounds of detention is that Doctor Mehta is the agent of a foreign power and the kingpin of a conspiracy. He was obtaining by surreptitious means information and documents' in the possession of various Government officials of this country and was secretly communicating the same to the Delhi-based foreign intelligence officers.