KASHIRAM BALDEOSINGH KHANGAR Vs. DISTRICT MAGISTRATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE District Magistrate, Sagar. has, by his order dated the 7th March, 1973, passed under Section 3 (b) of the Madhya Pradesh Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1965, directed the six persons forming a gang to disperse themselves outside the district of Sagar and the contiguous districts of Chhatarpur. Damoh. Narsimhapur, Raisen, Vidisha. Guna and Tikam-garh. The period of operation of the order is one year commencing from the 7th March. 1973 and expiring on the 6th March, 1974. Two of them being in Jail, the order directed that they should remove themselves out of the eight districts soon after their release from jail. Three of these six externees have filed Miscellaneous Petition No. 283 of 1973. two of them have filed Miscellaneous Petition No. 246 of 1973 and one of them has filed the Miscellaneous Petition No. 291 of 1973. The order delivered in Miscellaneous Petition No. 283 of 1973 shall govern the disposal of the other two petitions also.

(2.) NONE of the six externees preferred appeal to the State Government as provided by Section 8 of the Act. Instead, they have come to this Court for a writ of certiorari for quashing the externment order. Whereas the appellate authority, the State Government, could examine the sufficiency of the material on which the order of externment was founded and could substitute their decision for that of the District Magistrate, this Court cannot objectively examine that material to consider the order on its merits. The scope here is limited. The writ for quashing an order of externment would lie only if it could be shown that the order was either mala fide, or illegal in procedure. The learned Counsel for the petitioners, therefore, restricted their contentions to the questions of law alone.

(3.) IN so far as procedural illegalities are concerned there were none. The District Magistrate had followed the necessary formalities of procedure prescribed under Section 7 of the Act; the petitioners were given notices informing them of the general nature of the material allegations against them; they were asked to tender their explanations either in person or through legal practitioners and they were given full opportunity to examine witnesses. The petitioners did avail of these procedural safeguards. They filed their replies. examined more than forty witnesses and their advocates pleaded their cause. The order of externment does not suffer from any procedural irregularity or illegality.