SANTABEN Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) INVOKING Article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioner has sought a writ of habeas corpus or any other appropriate directions to quash the order dated 23. 11. 2006 of her detention as a bootlegger under the provisions of Section 3 of the Gujarat Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act, 1985 ("p. A. S. A. " for short ).

(2.) LEARNED counsel Ms. Banna Dutta, appearing for the petitioner, has relied upon the solitary ground of non-supply of the document relied upon in the impugned order by the detaining authority. It was submitted that the grounds of detention supplied to the petitioner under the provisions of Section 9 of the P. A. S. A. clearly refer to the fact of the petitioner having been released on bail in three criminal cases under the Prohibition Act and also relied upon the report related to the petitioner's applications for bail and the orders made thereon. The Detaining Authority has expressly relied, for arriving at his subjective satisfaction, upon the facts of registration of three offences against the petitioner and her being released on bail due to which she was considered to be likely to continue to indulge in the anti-social activity. It was pointed out from the list of documents supplied to the petitioner along with the grounds of detention that only the last application for bail and the order of bail in the last case registered against the petitioner were included in the list and, therefore, a grievance was made that relevant documents required for making an effective representation were not supplied to the petitioner which resulted into violation of the procedural safeguard provided under Article 22 of the Constitution. Learned counsel Ms. Dutta relied upon the following observations made by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in M. Ahamedkutty V/s. Union of India and another [ (1990)2 SCC 1];

(3.) LEARNED A. G. P. Ms. Nisha Parikh, appearing for the respondent, relied upon the repeated statements made by the detaining authority in his affidavit-in-reply to the effect that all relevant and vital materials which have a bearing on the aspect of the matter have been placed before him by sponsoring authority and copies of all those documents which had been referred to and relied upon by him for passing order of detention were supplied to her along with the grounds of detention. As for the bail applications and orders in the two prohibition cases registered against the petitioner, it was submitted by her that, despite best efforts, those documents were not available and could not be even obtained from the Court, according to the report which was placed on record and supplied to the petitioner.