LexINDERJEET AND ANR versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.
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[2008] 11S.C.R.1032 '( A INDERJEET AND ANR. V. I- UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. t ' (Criminal Appeal No. 920-923 of 2001) B AUGUST 7, 2008 [DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND DR. MUKUNDAKAM _,_ SHARMA, JJ] Preventive Detention: ,_ c . Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of .. Smuggling Activities Act, 197 4: s. 3(1) - Detention order - Upheld by High Court - HELD: Besides the period of detention having been over, no D case made out for interference. ~ The instant appeals were filed by the appellants "- against the order of the High Court dismissing their writ r ' petitions challenging the order of their detention u/s 3(1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention E of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 on the ground that the Central Government did not dispose of their representa- I tions within a reasonable time when the second repre- } sentation was made. F Dismissing the appeals, the Court HELD: Apart from the fact that the period of deten- tion is over, the appellants have not made out any case for interference. [para 6] [1035 E] R. Keshava vs. M.B. Prakash and Ors. AIR 2001SC301 G - referred to. Smt. Gracy vs. State of Kera/a and Anr. 44 (1991) Delhi Law Times 1; and Jasbir Singh vs. Lt. Governor, Delhi and Anr. (1999) 4 SCC 228 - held inapplicable .. H 1032 INDERJEET & ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 1033 [DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.] Case Law Reference 44 (1991) Delhi Law Times 1 held inapplicable para 1 (1999) 4 sec 228 held inapplicable para 1 AIR 2001 SC 301 referred to para 5 A CRIMINALAPPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal B Nos. 920-923 of 2001 From the final Judgment and Order dated 18.12.2000 and 20.12.2000 of the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi in Criminal Writ Petition Nos. 477 and 479 of 2000 and Review Applica- c tions bearing Crl. Misc. Nos. 1989 and 1988 of 2000 respec- tively. Roh it Minocha for the Appellants. Ashok Bhan, Sanjeev K. Bhardwaj, B. Krishna Prasad and D Satish Vig for the Respondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. 1. In the present appeals, chal- lenge is to the order of detention passed under Section 3(1) of E the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smug- gling Activities Act, 1974, (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). The said order was passed on the ground that gold was being smuggled from abroad by the lnderjeet Singh, the appellant No.1. He and the other appellant - Varinder Singh were intercepted on 17 .12.1999 in the Customs Arrival Hall at Netaji Subhash F Chandra Bose International Airport, Calcutta. They were found smuggling 77 pieces of gold bars of foreign origin weighing about 8.816 Kg. and valued at about Rs.39 Lacs. A represen- tation was made to the detaining authorities to revoke the detention. Representation was also made to the Advisory G Board and to the Central Government. The representa- tions were considered and rejected. Writ petitions were filed before the Delhi High Court which were numbered as Criminal Writ Petition Nos.477of2000 and 479of2000. The main ground of challenge was that the Central Government did not dispose H 1034 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 11 S.C.R. A of the representations within a reasonable time when the sec- ond representation was made. Strong reliance was placed be- fore the High Court on a decision of this Court in Smt. Gracy Vs. State of Kera/a and Anr. (44 (1991) Delhi Law Times - 1. The High Court found that the decision had no application and B also the decision of this Court in Jasbir Singh Vs. Lt. Governor, Delhi and Anr. (1999 (4) SCC 228) had no application. There- fore, the writ petitions were dismissed. Subsequently, an appli- cation for review of the order dated 18.12.2000 was filed which was also dismissed. C 2. Challenge in these appeals is to the aforesaid orders of the High Court. 3. None appears for the appellants. 4. We have heard learned counsel for the Union of India D and respondent No.3 - the Superintendent of the Central Jail. E F G H 5. At this juncture, it would be relevant to note that the ratio in Smt. Gracy's case (Supra) was analysed by this Court in R. Keshava Vs. M.B. Prakash and Ors. (AIR 2001 SC 301 ). It was inter-alia obseNed as follows: "A perusal of the aforesaid Section and other relevant provisions of the Act makes it abundantly clear that no duty is cast upon the Advisory Board to furnish the whole of the record and the representation address
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