BALKRISHNA KASHINATH KHOPKAR Vs. DISTRICT MAGISTRATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a petition by a person detained under the Preventive Detention Act and the ground on which the order of detention is challenged is that the grounds furnished to the detenu are vague.

(2.) NOW , before we consider the merits of the petition, it is necessary to lay down what the correct position in law is with regard to the furnishing of grounds to the detenu under the Preventive Detention Act, Section 7 of the Act provides that when a person is detained in pursuance of a detention order, the authority making the order shall, as soon as may be, but not later than 5 days from the date of detention, communicate to him the grounds on which the order has been made, and shall afford him the earliest opportunity of making a representation against the order, in a case where such order has been made by the Central Government, to that Government, and in a case where it has been made by a State Government or an officer subordinate thereto, to the State Government, and Section 7(2) provides that nothing in Sub -section (1) shall require the authority to disclose facts which it considers to be against the public interest to disclose.

(3.) NOW , in our opinion, it is not sufficient for the detaining authority to satisfy the Court that a privilege has been claimed with regard to all facts not disclosed by some omnibus averment in the order that other facts than those disclosed have not been disclosed because they are against public interest. If in the petition challenging the order the detenu makes a grievance of the fact that certain specific facts have not been disclosed which has prevented him from making an effective representation, it is incumbent upon the detaining authority to make an affidavit and to deal with each of these facts and to say that a privilege is claimed with regard to these facts. The Court must be in a position to judge that privilege has been bona fide claimed with regard to any particulars, the failure to disclose which has led to the prejudice of the detenu.