ABDUL RAZAK IBRAHIM Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY means of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner seeks to challenge the order of detention dated 15th January, 1997 passed by the Secretary to Government of Maharashtra, Home Department (Preventive Detention) under section 3(1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 ("Act" for short) with a view to preventing the petitioner from smuggling goods in future.

(2.) THE salient and material facts which necessitated the detaining authority to pass the impugned order, as set out in the grounds of detention, are as follows :

(3.) WE shall now deal with the first contention based on the alleged delay in issuing the order of detention. There is no dispute that the impugned order has been passed after a lapse of five months from the date of seizure of foreign currency from the the petitioner. As repeatedly pointed out by the Apex Court, that there is no hard and fast rule that merely because there is time lag between the offending acts and the date of order of detention, the casual link must be taken to be snapped and the satisfaction reached by the detaining authority should be regarded as unreal, but it all depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case and the nature of the explanation offered by the detaining authority for the delay that had occurred in passing the order. In paragraph 6 of the affidavit in-reply filed by G.S.Sandhu, Secretary (Preventive Detention), Government of Maharashtra, Home Department, the following explanation has been given :