TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1989 (8) TMI 340
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....ransporting or concealing or keeping smuggled gold. Though the impugned order was passed on 7.10.1987, the detenu was arrested on 18.1.1988 and detained in the Central prison, Trivandrum from 19.1.1988 onwards. The detenu was furnished with copies of the grounds of detention and other connected material documents on 21.1.1988. The detenu made a representation to the third Respondent praying for revocation of the detention order on 25.1.1988 which was rejected on 11.4.1988. Meanwhile on 11.2.1988 a declaration by the third Respondent under Section 9(1) of the Act was made, whereby the detenu was ordered to be detained for a continued detention for a further period of 6 months over one year. The first Respondent made a reference under section 8 of the Act on 5.5. 1988 to the Advisory Board which has reported that there is in its opinion sufficient cause for the detention of the detenu. The material facts which necessitated the passing of the detention order can be briefly stated thus: On 30.11.1986, Superintendent of Central Excise, Manjeri Range and party searched the permanent residence of the detenu in his presence which did not result in the seizure of any contraband goods or t....
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.... unreasonable delay, the order is liable to be quashed on the ground that the credible chain between the grounds of the alleged criminal activities and the purpose of detention is snapped. Further the unreasonable and unexplained delay between the date of the order of detention on 7.10.87 and the date of arrest of the detenu after a lapse of 3 months on 18.1.1988 throws considerable doubt on the genuineness of the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority leading to an inference that there was no real and genuine subjective satisfaction as regards the necessity to detain the detenu with a view to preventing him from acting in prejudicial manner. (2) The representation submitted by the detenu to the third Respondent on 25.1.1988 challenging the impugned order clamped upon him had been disposed of by a delay of 72 days i.e. on 11.4.1988 and this long and avoidable delay vitiates the order of detention as being violative of Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India. We shall now deal with the first contention which is referred underground Nos. II & III of the Grounds in the Special Leave Petition which read thus:  ....
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....out by this court that there is no hard and fast rule that merely because there is a time lag between the offending acts and the date of order of detention, the causal link must be taken to be snapped and the satisfaction reached by the detaining authority should be regarded as unreal, but it all depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case and the nature of the explanation offered by the detaining authority for the delay that had occurred in passing the order. There is a catena of decisions on this point, but we feel that it is not necessary to recapitulate all those decisions except a salient few. This court in Golam Hussain alias Garna v. Commnr. of Police of Calcutta & Ors., [1974] 4 SCC 530 wherein there was a time lag of 6 months between the incident and the date of order of detention while answering a similar contention, laid down the ratio of proximity as follows: "No authority, acting rationally, can be satisfied, subjectively or otherwise, of future mischief merely because long ago the detenu had done something evil. To rule otherwise is to sanction a simulacrum of a statutory requirement. But no mechanical test b....
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....nbsp; "Delay ipso facto in passing an order of detention is not fatal to the detention of a person, for, in certain cases delay may be unavoidable and reasonable. What is required by law is that the delay must be satisfactorily examined by the detaining authority." See also SK Serajul v. State of West Bengal, [1975] 2 SCC 78; Rekhaben Virendra Karadia v. State of Gujarat & Ors., [1979] 2 SCR 257; Harnek Singh v. State of Punjab, [1982] 1 SCC 116: Shiv Ratan Makin v. Union of India and Others, [1986] 1 SCC 40l; Smt. K. Aruna Kumari v. Government of Andhra Pradesh and Ors., [1988] 1 SCC 296 and Rajendra Kumar Natvarlal Shah v. State of Gujarat and Others, [1988] 3 SCC 153. In a recent decision in Yogendra Murari v. State of U.P. and Others 1988 (4) SCC 559, this Court has reiterated the earlier view consistently taken by this Court observing: "......... it is not right to assume that an order of detention has to be mechanically struck down if passed after some delay ............ It is necessary to consider the circumstances in each individual case to find out whether the delay has been satisfactor....
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....r of detention made on 7.10.1987, he has frankly admitted that he could not do so--rightly so in our view--in the absence of any explanation in the counter affidavit. The Superintendent of Police, Malapurram to whom the detention order was forwarded for execution has not filed any supporting affidavit explaining the delay in securing the arrest of the detenu. Under these circumstances, we hold that leaving apart the question of delay in passing the order of detention from the date of the seizure of the gold, the fact remains that the detaining authority has failed to explain the long delay in securing the arrest of the detenu after three months from the date of the passing of the detention order and this non-explanation in our view throws a considerable doubt on the genuineness of the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority vitiating the validity of the order of detention. The next contention stressed by the learned counsel for the appellant is with regard to the delay of 72 days in the disposal of the representation made by the appellant to the third respondent on 25.1. 1988. This contention is raised in ground Nos. VIII and IX of the Grounds in the Special Leave Peti....
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....rstand why such a long delay from 16.2.88 to 28.3.88 had occasioned in getting the comments from the Collector of Customs. The only futile explanation now offered by the third respondent is that this delay had occasioned because the Collector of Customs was not able to get a copy of the representation from the Home Department, Kerala and thereafter the Collector got a copy of the representation on being forwarded by the third respondent on 8.3.1988. Even then there is a delay of 20 days in getting the comments of the Collector and that delay is not at all explained. This Court in Rama Dhondu Borade v. Shri V.K. Saraf Commissioner of Police & Ors., [1989] I Scale Vol. 4 22 after referring to various decisions, has observed thus: "The detenu has an independent constitutional right to make his representation under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India. Correspondingly, there is a constitutional mandate commanding the concerned authority to whom the detenu forwards his representation questioning the correctness of the detention order clamped upon him and requesting for his release, to consider the said representation with reasonable dispatch ....