Criminal Appeal No 322 of 1987
From the Judgment and Order dated 1911987 of the Bombay High Court in Criminal Writ Petition No 103 of 1986
672 Hardev Singh and Ms Madhu Moolchandani for the Appellant
BA Masodkar AS Bhasme and AM Khanwilkarforthe Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SEN J
This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment and order of the High Court of Bombay dated January 19 1987 rejecting the petition under article 226 of the Constitution filed by the appellant in the High Court for grant of a writ of habeas corpus
The appellant has been placed under detention by the impugned order dated September 7 1986 passed by the District Magistrate Beed under section 32 of the on his being satis fied that it was necessary to do so with a view to prevent ing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the mainte nance of public order 
The appellant challenged the im pugned order of detention on grounds inter alia that there was infraction of the constitutional safeguards enshrined in article 225 read with section 8 of the Act inasmuch as there was inordinate unexplained delay on the part of the detaining authority to consider and dispose of his representation
On the view that we take it is not necessary to deal with the facts elaborately
The material facts are these
The appellant was taken into custody on September 8 1986 and was lodged at the Aurangabad Central Prison Aurangabad where he is now detained
He was served with the grounds of detention along with the copies of the relevant documents on September 14 1986
It appears that a week thereafter ie on September 22 1986 he addressed a representation to the Chief Minister through the Superintendent Aurangabad Cen tral Prison Aurangabad which the Superintendent forwarded to the Home Department on September 24 1986
The State Government in the meanwhile under section 3 4 of the Act accorded its approval to the impugned order of detention on September 18 1986
On October 6 1986 the appellant made another representation to the Advisory Board which met and considered the same on October 8 1986
On October 13 1986 the Advisory Board after considering the representation made by the appellant together with the materials placed before it forwarded its report to the State Government recommending confirmation of the impugned order of detention as there was in its opinion sufficient cause for the detention of the appellant
Acting upon the report of the Advisory Board the State Government by its order dated November 19 1986 confirmed the order of detention
In the mean 673 time the appellant moved the High Court on November 13 1986
The main ground on which the legality of the impugned order of detention was assailed in the High Court was that although the appellant had addressed a representation to the Chief Minister on September 22
1986 it was not considered and disposed of by the Chief Minister till November 17 1986 ie there was unexplained unreasonable delay in disposal of the same
It was said that such unreasonable delay in disposal of the representation was sufficient to render the continued detention of the appellant illegal
The High Court did not think it necessary to call upon the respondents and by an oral judgment dismissed the writ petition mainly on the ground of imperfect pleadings
It observed that the appellant had not specifically pleaded that there was unrea sonable delay in the office of the Chief Minister which had not been explained and therefore the detention was illegal but his grievance was that his representation had not been considered
It referred to paragraph 4 of the writ petition where it is submitted It is submitted that in law the State Gov ernment is bound to consider the representa tion before the decision of the Advisory Board but in the instant case neither the State Government has considered the represen tation of the petitioner nor the Government has communicated its decision
 It referred to the underlined portion of the averments in paragraph 4 of the writ petition namely Eight weeks have elapsed since the date of detention of the petitioner but still neither the State Government has taken any decision on the representation forwarded through the Home Department nor the petitioner is communicated any decision pursuant to the report    The High Court distinguished the decision of this Court in Harish Pahwa vs State of Uttar Pradesh  Ors  on the ground that in that case the Court had before it the affidavit of the Government showing that it had no explanation to offer except that it had referred the matter to the Law Department and also there was sufficient material to show that there was unreasonable delay in dealing with the representation whereas in the present case there was no such ground raised
The High Court disallowed the prayer for grant of a writ of habeas corpus mainly on the ground of defective pleadings and 674 added that the appellant had not even asked for time to amend the petition and put the respondents to notice
It observed While the State undoubtedly has the duty to process the representation of the detenu promptly it is also the duty of the petition er to make specific adverments of facts and their effect if necessary by amendment
This is necessary to put the respondents to notice that the effect of these facts have to be answered and explained
The respondents may have an explanation as to why the Chief Minis ter took so much time
On such submission we cannot hold that the respondents have failed to explain delay or that the time taken by the Chief Minister was wholly necessary
We should not be understood to have held that the time taken by the Government was justified
Far from it
But we cannot allow the petitioner to take the respondents by surprise by such a style of pleading
 It was an improper exercise of power on the part of the High Court in disallowing the writ petition on the ground of imperfect pleadings
Normally writ petitions are decided on the basis of affidavits and the petitioner cannot be permit ted to raise grounds not taken in the petition at the hear ing
The same rule cannot be applied to a petition for grant of a writ of habseas corpus
It is enough for the detenu to say that he is under wrongful detention and the burden lies on the detaining authority to satisfy the Court that the detention is not illegal or wrongful and that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief claimed
This Court on more occasions than one has dealt with the question and it is now well settled that it is incumbent on the State to satisfy the Court that the detention of the petitionerdetenu was legal and in conformity not only with the mandatory provi sions of the Act but also strictly in accord with the con stitutional safeguards embodied in article 225
In return to a rule nisi issued by this Court or the High Court in a habeas corpus petition the proper person to file the same is the District Magistrate who had passed the impugned order of detention and he must explain his subjective satisfaction and the grounds therefore and if for some good reason the District Magistrate is not available the affidavit must be sworn by some responsible officer like the Secretary or the Deputy Secretary to the Government in the Home Department who personally dealt with or processed the case in the Secretariat or submitted it to the Minister or other Officer duly authorised under the Rules of Business framed by the Governor under article 166 of the Constitution to pass orders on behalf of the Govern 675 ment in such matters Niranjan Singh vs State of Madhya Pradesh   Habibullah Khan vs State of West Bengal  Jagdish Prasad vs State of Bihar  Anr  and Mohd Alam vs State of West Bengal  In the present case in answer to the notice issued by this Court under article 136 the affidavit in reply has been filed by Shri SV Joshi District Magistrate Beed who passed the impugned order of detention
There is a general denial in paragraph 2 of the counter affidavit that there was unreasonable delay in the disposal of the representation made by the appellant
However the delay in disposal of the representation was in the Secretariat and therefore it is averred in paragraph 11 I say that the affidavit filed by Shri Vish wasrao Desk Officer Home Department Special Mantralaya Bombay on behalf of State of Maharashtra in the High Court Bench at Aurangabad will reveal that different steps as required by the provisions of Na tional Security Act 1980 are taken immediate ly within stipulated period and it is then averred in paragraph 12 that the contentions raised by the appellant with regard to delay have been dealt with by the High Court while deciding the writ petition
It is said that the appellant has raised the contention about unreasonable delay in disposal of his representation for the first time in this Court presumably on the reasoning of the High Court
There is on record an affidavit sworn by IS Vishwasrao Desk Officer Home Department Special Mantralaya Bombay in answer to the grounds 16A and 16E
As regards the grounds 16A and 16E formulated in the petition for grant of special leave regarding unreasonbale delay it is averred in paragraph 3 of the affidavit I say that the representation dated 22nd September 1986 addressed to the Chief Minis ter by the detenu was forwarded by the Super intendent Aurangabad Central Prison Auranga bad on 24th September 1986
I further say that the said representation was received in the Department on 26th September 1986
I further say that the parawise remarks on the said representation were called for from the detaining authority ie District Magistrate Beed on 26th September 1986 and remarks of the District Magistrate dated 3rd October 1986 were received by the 676 Government on 6th October 1986
I further say that thereafter the said representation was processed together with report of the Advisory Board and as stated in the earlier paragraphs the said representation was rejected and the detention of the detenu was confirmed by the Chief Minister on 17th November 1986
 In the same paragraph there is the following averment made with regard to delay in disposal of the representation in the Chief Minister s Secretariat I further say that the Chief Minister was pre occupied in connection with very important matters of the State which involved tours as well as meetings outside Bombay
I further say that during the period from 23101986 to 1711
1986 two Cabinet meetings were held at Pune and Aurangabad each meeting lasting for two days ie 28th and 29th October 1986 at Pune and 11th and 12th November 1986 at Aurangabad
I further say that such meetings in Pune and Aurangabad are generally held once a year to focus the attention on regional problems
I further say that the preparations for these meetings as well as other meetings held with the concerned Ministers and offi cials demanded a lot of time of the Chief Minister and this naturally resulted in some delay in disposing of several cases submitted to the Chief Minister including this case
I further say that the cases where such repre sentations are made in the detention matters they required a close scrutiny of all the relevant record and careful application of mind
I therefore respectfully submit that the time taken for passing the Government order in this case should be viewed in the light of the averments made in this affidavit and therefore if properly considered it cannot be said that the delay in disposing of the representation is unreasonable and unex plained
 It is somewhat strange that the State Government should have acted in such a cavalier fashion in dealing with the appellant s representation addressed to the Chief Minister
We are satisfied that there was failure on the part of the Government to discharge its obligations under article 225
The affidavit reveals that there were two representations made by the appellant one to the Chief Minister dated September 22 1986 and the other to the Advisory Board dated 677 October 6 1986
While the Advisory Board acted with com mendable despatch in considering the same at its meeting held on October 8 1986 and forwarded its report together with the materials on October 13 1986 there was utter callousness on the part of the State Government to deal with the other representation addressed to the Chief Minister
It was not till November 17 1986 that the Chief Minister condescended to have a look at the representation
When the life and liberty of a citizen is involved it is expected that the Government will ensure that the constitutional safeguards embodied in article 225 are strictly observed
We say and we think it necessary to repeat that the gravity of the evil to the community resulting from anti social activi ties can never furnish an adequate reason for invading the personal liberty of a citizen except in accordance with the procedure established by the Constitution and the laws
The history of personal liberty is largely the history of in sistence on observance of the procedural safeguards
Apart from the admitted inordinate delay there is a fundamental defect which renders the continued detention of the appellant constitutionally invalid
As observed by one of us Sen J in Narendra Purshotam Umrao vs BB Gujral  Ors  there was a duty cast on the Govern ment to consider the representation made by the detenu without waiting for the opinion of the Advisory Board
The constitution ofan Advisory Board under section 9 of the Act does not relieve the State Government from the legal obligation to consider the representation of the detenu as soon as it is received by it
It goes without saying that the constitu tional right to make a representation guaranteed by article 225 must be taken to include by necessary implication the constitutional right to a proper consideration of the repre sentation by the authority to whom it is made
The right of representation under article 225 is a valuable constitutional right and is not a mere formality
The representation made by the appellant addressed to the Chief Minister could not lie unattended to in the portals of the Secretariat while the Chief Minister was attending to other political affairs
Nor could the Government keep the representation in the archives of the Secretariat till the Advisory Board submit ted its report
In Narendra Purshotam Umrao s case it was observed Thus the two obligations of the Government to refer the case of the detenu to the Advisory Board and to obtain its report on the one hand and to give an earliest opportunity to him to make a representation and consider the representation on the other are two distinct obligations independent of each other
 After referring to the decisions of this Court in Abdul Karim vs State of West Bengal   Pankaj Kumar Chakrabarty vs State of West Bengal  678 and Khairul Haque vs State of West Bengal WP No 246 of 1969 decided on September 10 1969 the nature and dual obligation of the Government and the corresponding dual right in favour of the detenu under article 225 was reiterat ed
The following observations of the Court in Khairul Haque s case were quoted with approval It is implicit in the language of article 22 that the appropriate Government while dis charging its duty to consider the representa tion cannot depend upon the view of the Board on such representation
It has to consider the representation on its own without being influ enced by any such view of the Board
There was therefore no reason for the Government to wait for considering the petitioner s representation until it had received the report of the Advisory Board
As laid down in Abdul Karim vs State of West Bengal the obli gation of the appropriate Government under article 225 is to consider the representation made by the detenu as expeditiously as possi ble
The consideration by the Government of such representation has to be as aforesaid independent of any opinion which may be ex pressed by the Advisory Board
The fact that article 225 enjoins upon the detaining authority to afford to the detenu the earliest opportunity to make a representation must implicitly mean that such representation must when made be considered and disposed of as expeditiously as possible otherwise it is obvious that the obligation to furnish the earliest opportunity to make a representation loses both its purpose and meaning In the circumstances there being a failure on the part of the State Government to consider the representation made by the appellant addressed to the Chief Minister without wait ing for the opinion of the Advisory Board renders the continued detention of the appellant invalid and constitu tionally impermissible
We have no manner of doubt that there is no explanation whatever much less any reasonable explanation for the inor dinate delay in consideration of the representation made by the appellant addressed to the Chief Minister and that by itself is sufficient to invalidate the impugned order of detention
In fact no one has filed any affidavit to ex plain the cause for the delay in Chief Minister s Secretari at
The counter affidavit filed by Shri SV Joshi District Magistrate contains 679 a bare denial in paragraph 2 that there was any unreasonable delay in the disposal of the representation
As regards the delay in disposal of the representation in the Secretariat he adverts in paragraph 11 to the affidavit filed by Vish wasrao Desk Officer Home Department on behalf of the State Government and asserts that it reveals the different steps that were taken and in paragraph 12 he submits that the contention about unreasonable delay in disposal of the representation by the State Government was not raised in the High Court and it has been taken for the first time in this Court
Even so the appellant having raised the ground in appeal it was the duty of the State Government to have placed all the material along with the counter affidavit
There is in fact no explanation offered as regards the delay in disposal of the representation in the Secretariat
We have already extracted the relevant portion from the affida vit of Vishwasrao Desk Officer
It is accepted that the representation made by the appellant to the Chief Minister on September 22 1986 forwarded by the Superintendent Aurangabad Central Prison on the 24th was received in the Home Department on the 26th which in its turn forwarded the same to the detaining authority ie the District Magistrate on the same day ie 26th for his comments
The District Magistrate returned the representation along with his com ments dated October 3 1986 which was received by the Gov ernment on the 6th
It is said that thereafter the represen tation was processed together with the report of the Adviso ry Board and was forwarded to the Chief Minister s Secre tariat where the same was received on October 23 1986
It is enough to say that the explanation that the Chief Minis ter was pre occupied with very important matters of the State which involved tours as well as two Cabinet meetings at Pune on October 28 and 29 1986 and at Aurangabad on November 11 and 12 1986 was no explanation at all why the Chief Minister did not attend to the representation made by the appellant till November 17 1986 ie for a period of 25 days
There was no reason why the representation submitted by the appellant could not be dealt with by the Chief Minis ter with all reasonable promptitude and diligence and the explanation that he remained away from Bombay is certainly not a reasonable explanation
In view of the wholly unex plained and unduly long delay in the disposal of the repre sentation by the State Government the further detention of the appellant must be held illegal and he must be set at liberty forthwith
For these reasons the appeal must succeed and is allowed
The judgment and order passed by the High Court are set aside and the appellant is directed to be set at liberty forthwith
PSS Appeal allowed


Summary:
The appellant was placed under detention on September 8 1986 consequent upon an order of detention passed by the District Magistrate Beed under section 32 of the on his being satisfied that it was neces sary to do so with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order 
He was served with the grounds of detention alongwith copies of the relevant documents on September 14 1986
He ad dressed a representation to the Chief Minister State of Maharashtra on September 22 1986 through the Superintend ent Central Jail Aurangabad who forwarded the same to the State Government Home Department which received it on September 26 1986 and on the same day forwarded it to the District Magistrate for his comments
On October 3 1986 the District Magistrate returned the representation along with his comments and the same were received in the Home Department on October 6 1986
The State Government had in the meanwhile accorded its approval to the impugned order of detention under section 34 of the Act on September 18 1986
On October 6 the appellant made another representation to the Advisory Board against the order of detention
669 The Advisory Board met on October 8 1986 considered the representation and forwarded its report to the State Govern ment on October 13 recommending confirmation of the order of detention
Thereafter the representation made by the appel lant was processed in the Home Department along with the report of the Advisory Board and forwarded to the Chief Minister s Secretariat where the same was received on Octo ber 23 1986
The representation remained undisposed in the Chief Minister s Secretariat and was put up before him on November 17 1986 and he rejected the same
Upon these facts the appellant moved the High Court by a petition under article 226 of the Constitution for the grant of a writ of habeas corpus on the next day ie on November 18 1986 contending that his continued detention was uncon stitutional and void inasmuch as there was inordinate unexplained delay on the part of the detaining authority to consider and dispose of his representation which was in violation of the constitutional safeguards enshrined in article 225 read with section 8 of the 
The writ petition was dismissed by the High Court inter alia on the ground of defective pleadings regarding the delay in Chief Minister s Secretariat in dealing with the representation
In the appeal by special leave the District Magistrate in his counter affidavit denied that there was any unreason able delay in the disposal of the representation and submit ted that no such ground regarding unreasonable delay was taken in the High Court in the writ petition and was raised for the first time before this Court presumably on the reasoning of the High Court
In the other counter affidavit the Desk Officer Home Department Special explained the reasons for the delay in the Chief Minister s Secretariat asserting that the Chief Minister remained preoccupied with very important matters of the State during the period from October 23 1986 to November 17 1986 and therefore it was not possible for him to have dealt with the representation earlier
Allowing the appeal HELD 1The continued detention of the appellant was illegal and he must be set at liberty forthwith
679G 21 It is incumbent on the State to satisfy the Court that the detention of the petitionerdetenu was legal and in conformity not only with the mandatory provisions of the Act but also strictly in accord with the constitutional safe guards embodied in article 225
674F 670 22 The constitutional right of the detenu to make a representation guaranteed by article 225 is a valuable right and is not a mere formality
It includes by necessary impli cation the constitutional right to a proper consideration of the representation by the authority to whom it is made
677E In the instant case there were two representations made by the appellant one to the Chief Minister dated September 22 1986 and the other to the Advisory Board dated October 6 1986
While the Advisory Board acted with commendable despatch in considering the same at its meeting held on October 8 1986 and forwarded its report on October 13 1986 it was not till November 17 1986 that the Chief Minister look at it
There was no reason why he could not deal with it with all reasonable promptitude and diligence
The explanation that he remained preoccupied with very important matters of the State which involved tours as well as Cabinet meetings was no explanation at all
There was therefore failure on the part of the Government to dis charge its obligations under article 225
676H 677B 679F 679E 676G 23 The constitution of an Advisory Board under section 9 of the Act does not relieve the State Government from the legal obligation to consider the representation of the detenu as soon as it is received by it
The two obligations of the Government to refer the case of the detenu to the Advisory Board and to obtain its report on the one hand and to give an earliest opportunity to him to make a representation and consider the representation on the other are two distinct obligations independent of each other
There is thus a duty cast on the Government to consider the representation made by the detenu without waiting for the opinion of the Adviso ry Board
677E G D Narendra Purshotam Umrao vs BB Gujral  Ors
  referred to
The failure of the Government in the instant case to consider the representation without waiting for the opinion of the Advisory Board renders the continued detention of the appellant invalid and constitutionally impermissible
678F 3
In return to the rule nisi issued by this Court or the High Court in a habeas corpus petition the proper person to file the same is the District Magistrate who had passed the impugned order of detention and he must explain his subjective satisfaction and the grounds therefore and if for some good reason the District Magistrate is not avail able the 671 affidavit must be sworn by some responsible officer like the Secretary or the Deputy Secretary to the Government in the Home Department who personally dealt with or processed the case in the Secretariat or submitted it to the Minister or other officer duly authorised under the Rules of Business framed by the Governor under article 166 of the Constitution to pass orders on behalf of the Government in such matters
674F 675A Niranjan Singh vs State of Madhya Pradesh   Habibullah Khan vs State of West Bengal  Jagdish Prasad vs State of Bihar  Anr  and Mohd Alam vs State of West Bengal   referred to
In the instant case no one has filed any affidavit to explain the delay in the Chief Minister s Secretariat
The counter affidavit filed by the District Magistrate contains a bare denial that there was any unreasonable delay in the disposal of the representation
As regards the delay in the Secretariat he adverts to the affidavit filed by the Desk Officer Home Department and asserts that it reveals the different steps that were taken
There is in fact no expla nation offered as regards the delay in the disposal of the representation in the Secretariat
678G 679C 4
It was an improper exercise of power on the part of the High Court in disallowing the writ petition on the ground of imperfect pleadings
The rule that a petitioner cannot be permitted to raise grounds not taken in the peti tion at the hearing cannot be applied to a petition for grant of a writ of habeas corpus
It is enough for the detenu to say that he is under wrongful detention and the burden lies on the detaining authority to satisfy the Court that the detention is not illegal or wrongful and that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief claimed
674DE In the appeal the appellant having raised the ground of delay in disposal of his representation in Chief Minister s Secretariat it was the duty of the State Government to have placed all the material along with the counter affidavit
679B