1991 (10) TMI 311

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.... referred to as the 'Act') directing the petitioner/detenue to be detained and kept in custody in the abovesaid prison with a view to preventing the detenue from smuggling goods and engaging in transporting or concealing or keeping smuggled goods. The period of detention has been fixed for one year as per the order dated January 16, 1991 with effect from October 27, 1990. As the facts of the case which necessitated the detaining authority to pass this detention order, are well set out in the grounds of detention, we think that it is not necessary for us to reiterate the same. Challenging the validity of the order, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner/detenue pressed only one contention that there has been undue ....

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.... the above statement made in the counter of respondent 1, it is clear that the Sponsoring Authority from whom the comments were called for, had delayed in sending the comments up to January 1, 1991 despite the fact that the comments were called for from him on December 4, 1990. Barring that, no explanation is forthcoming as to why the delay had occasioned at the hands of the Sponsoring Authority to send the parawise remarks or the comments to respondent 1. The learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of respondent 1 unsuccessfully tries to explain by stating that since the Sponsoring Authority was at a far away place i.e. Ernakulam, the delay had occasioned due to postal transmission and that if the postal delay is excluded there is actua....

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....990 to February 12, 1990 and the necessary particulars appear to have been set out by specific pleading. The decision in Pratap Jeevanlal case [1986 Cri LJ 1157] cannot also be availed of by respondent 1 since in that case the contention advanced was that the detaining authority was not justified to take assistance from the sponsoring authority which contention was repelled by the High Court. Leave apart, the facts of that case reveal that there was not much delay in the Sponsoring Authority in sending his comments to the detaining authority. It appears that the comments called for on February 20, 1985 by the detaining authority were forwarded on March 1, 1985, to say, within 8 to 9 days. Hence, we hold that these two decisions relied upon ....