Mandatory detention-penalty timelines invalidate orders issued after the statutory seven-day period and undermine appellate affirmations.

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....Section 129(3) requires a detention-penalty order to be passed within seven days of service of notice. The seven-day period is mandatory, not directory; an order made after that period, including one issued 28 days after notice, breaches the statutory requirement. Such delay vitiates the detention-penalty proceedings, renders the original order void ab initio and a nullity, and leaves no valid basis for an appellate order affirming the penalty.....