Preventive detention representation delay must be promptly explained, or the detention order is vitiated under constitutional safeguards.

Article 22(5) requires a detenu's representation against preventive detention to be considered with reasonable dispatch, and no fixed universal time-limit can be set. Any substantial delay must be justified by cogent and convincing material; a vague plea of pressure of work or increased detention cases is insufficient. Where the State cannot show that the delay was unavoidable or satisfactorily explained, the constitutional safeguard of personal liberty is undermined and the detention order is invalid. In the stated decision, the delay was not satisfactorily explained, so the detention order was quashed and release directed.

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Issues: Whether the unexplained delay in considering the detenu's representation under Article 22(5) of the Constitution rendered the preventive detention order illegal.

Analysis: The constitutional safeguard under Article 22(5) requires that a representation against preventive detention be considered with promptness and reasonable dispatch. No rigid time-limit can be fixed for all cases, but the authority must explain any substantial delay by cogent and convincing material. A vague reference to pressure of work and increase in detention cases was held insufficient, and the State failed to show that the delay was unavoidable or satisfactorily explained. The right to make a representation includes a corresponding obligation to consider it expeditiously, and delay undermines the constitutional protection of personal liberty.

Conclusion: The delay in considering the representation was not satisfactorily explained, and the detention order was invalid.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded, the detention order was quashed, and the petitioner was directed to be released forthwith.

Ratio Decidendi: In preventive detention matters, the detaining authority must consider the detenu's representation with reasonable dispatch under Article 22(5), and an unexplained or inadequately explained delay vitiates the detention.

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