Preventive detention requires independent satisfaction; mere approval of a draft detention order invalidates the detention.

Preventive detention under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act requires the detaining authority to independently apply its mind and form its own satisfaction, consistent with the constitutional safeguards under Article 22. Where the record shows that sponsoring prepared the draft grounds and draft detention order and the detaining authority merely approved them, the approval is not a substitute for independent consideration. On the facts recorded, the required independent satisfaction was absent, so the detention order was held vitiated for non-application of mind and quashed.

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Issues: Whether the detention order under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 was vitiated for non-application of mind because the detaining authority merely approved a draft order prepared by officials.

Analysis: Preventive detention intrudes upon personal liberty and therefore demands strict observance of constitutional safeguards under Article 22 of the Constitution of India. The material from the original file showed that the draft grounds of detention and the draft detention order had been prepared by the sponsoring authorities and were then approved by the detaining authority. The Court found that, under the Act, the detaining authority was required to arrive at its own satisfaction and there was no scope for a mere approval of a pre-prepared draft as a substitute for independent consideration. Approval in such circumstances necessarily presupposes application of mind to the proposal, and the record disclosed that this requirement was not met.

Conclusion: The detention order was vitiated for non-application of mind and was quashed, with the detenu directed to be released forthwith unless required in connection with any other case or proceeding.

Ratio Decidendi: In preventive detention matters, the detaining authority must independently apply its mind and form its own satisfaction; mere approval of a draft detention order prepared by the sponsoring authority invalidates the detention.

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