Delay in forwarding a detenu's representation to the Central Government violates Article 22(5) and invalidates continued detention.

Where a detenu is expressly entitled to represent to the State and Central Governments and entrusts that representation to jail authorities for immediate transmission, unexplained and avoidable delay by the intermediary authority in forwarding it to the Central Government infringes the constitutional right to an effective and expeditious representation under Article 22(5). The delay here was caused by the jail authority's failure to despatch the representation promptly, not by any lapse in consideration after receipt by the Central Government, and that delay vitiated the continued detention.

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Issues: Whether the delay in forwarding the detenu's representation to the Central Government violated Article 22(5) of the Constitution and rendered the continued detention illegal.

Analysis: The detenu's grounds of detention expressly enabled a representation to both the State Government and the Central Government, and the representation with multiple copies was handed to the jail authorities with a specific request for immediate transmission. The Jail Superintendent did not send a copy to the Central Government at all for an extended period, and the eventual forwarding occurred only much later through another authority. The delay was not attributable to the Central Government's consideration of the representation after receipt, but to the failure of the intermediary jail authority to despatch it with promptitude. Such unexplained and avoidable delay frustrated the detenu's right to make an effective representation at the earliest opportunity.

Conclusion: The delay in forwarding the representation to the Central Government violated Article 22(5) and vitiated the continued detention.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a detenu is expressly entitled to represent to the Central Government and entrusts the representation to jail authorities for transmission, any unexplained and avoidable delay by those authorities in forwarding it infringes the constitutional right to an effective and expeditious representation and invalidates the detention.

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