Severability of preventive detention grounds: one supported head under COFEPOSA can sustain the detention despite another challenge.

A preventive detention order under COFEPOSA founded on multiple independent heads is severable: Section 5-A applies to supporting grounds, not to the heads themselves, so failure of one head does not invalidate the entire order if another head is independently supported by material. On the facts, concealment of foreign currency in hand baggage and attempted departure from India without declaration to customs authorities supplied sufficient material for subjective satisfaction under smuggling of goods under Section 3(1)(i), regardless of the challenge to the other head. The detention order was therefore sustainable on the supported head, and the challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether a detention order issued under more than one head under the COFEPOSA becomes invalid in its entirety if one head is unsupported by material, and whether the order was independently sustainable under the head of smuggling of goods.

Analysis: Section 3(1) of the COFEPOSA empowers detention on one or more of the enumerated heads, and Section 5-A operates on grounds supporting detention, not on the heads themselves. An order based on multiple grounds is to be treated as consisting of separate independent orders for each supported ground. The same principle applies where detention is founded on multiple heads: failure of one head does not automatically vitiate the entire order if another head is independently supported by the material. On the facts, the record showed that the detenu was carrying foreign currency concealed in his hand baggage and attempting to leave India without declaration to customs authorities. Those facts were sufficient to support subjective satisfaction that he was indulging in smuggling of goods within Section 3(1)(i), irrespective of the challenge to Section 3(1)(iii).

Conclusion: The detention order was not invalid in its entirety merely because one head was challenged; it remained sustainable under Section 3(1)(i), and the challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a preventive detention order is founded on multiple independent heads, the order is severable, and its validity is preserved if at least one head is supported by relevant material and subjective satisfaction.

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