ROSHAN LAL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The following five petitions under Section 491, Code of Criminal Procedure relate to the persons respectively mentioned against them:

(2.) All the Petitioners were arrested and ordered to be detained for a period of six months under Section 3, Preventive Detention Act, 1950 . Whereas Rattan Lal Petitioner was arrested on 25-1-1951, the arrests of the other Petitioners took place on 21-12-1950. Since the main points on which the orders of arrest & detention were challenged by the Petitioners are practically the same it will be convenient to dispose of them by one order.

(3.) The first point taken in the petitions was that Section 3, Preventive Detention Act, was ultra vires the Parliament and was against the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution. This was, however, not urged in the course of arguments because it was authoritatively held by the Supreme Court in A.K. Gopalan V. State of Madras, 1950 AIR(SC) 27 that the Preventive Detention Act with the exception of Section 14 is intra vires the Constitution and Section 14 which was held to be illegal and ultra vires does not affect these petitions.