minal Appeal No 183 of 1967
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated August 9 1967 of the Patna High Court in Criminal Writ Jurisdiction Case No 31 of 1967
M C Setalvad R L Kohli and J C Talwar for the appellant
BP Jha for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Hidayatullah J
The appellant Rameshwar Lal Patwari applied under article 226 of the Constitution and section 491 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for a writ or order in the nature of habeas corpus for his release from detention in Bhagalpur Central Jail in pursuance of an order of detention passed by the Governor of Bihar on July 4 1967 under section 31aiii of the 
He was arrested under the order on July 11 1967 and was served on July 13 1967 with a copy of the grounds on which his detention was based to enable him to make a representation
He made a representation but his release was not recommended
His application in the High Court was also dismissed
He now appeals by special leave
The order of the Governor recites that it is necessary to make an order for his detention to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community
The grounds which were furnished to him were as follows  1 He is a prominent businessman of Dumka and with the association of Sarvashri Mulchand Choudhury Kanhaiaya Choudhury Fulchand Modi Pir Mohammad Bengaria PS Shikaripara and others he indulges in black marketing of foodgrains
He has four trucks one jeep and a car which have been registered in the names of his relatives Truck No BRL 1331 which is registered in the name of his brother in law sala
Sri Harichandra Agarwala was caught on 29th December 1966 at Ranibabal near Mashanjor while carrying 95 bags of peddy for illegal trade
In this connection a case under the Essential Commodities Act has been instituted
He is on bail in this case
2 His trucks always take to wicked routes to Saithia West Bengal and he himself pilots them
3 A businessman of Barahiya disclosed that he Rameshwar Lal Patwari visited Barahaiya on several occasions and purchased gram gramdal under various names and smuggled them to West Bengal
507 4 On the night of 2 2 66 Sri R section Singh 1st Class Magistrate along with Sub Divisional Officer Sadar other Magistrate and police officers raided the house of Sri Rameshwar Lal Patwari and found aft kinds of foodgrains in huge quantity
His stock register was maintained in irregular way
fie could not produce the sale register and took the plea that it was produced before the Income Tax Officer
It was found that he has been dealing in foodgrains without any licence
A case has been instituted in this connection in which he is on bail
5 Shri Babu Ram Bikaneria owner of a Rice Mill at Saitha District Birbhum West Bengal visited Dumka on 26 11 66 and told him Sri Rameshwar Lal Patwari to supply gram and gramdal
He Sri Rameshwar Lal Patwari promised to supply gram and gramdal
On 78 12 66 Sri Mulchand Choudhury of Rameshwar who is his agent sent his truck No BRJ 2029 load ed with gram and gramdal to Saitha through Mahesh Kola Check post
His truck No BRL 1366 and van BRL 2005 were found at Rameshwar on 7 12 1966 wherefrom he smuggles foodgrains to West Bengal
He purchases gram and gramdal through Gopal Mandal of Lakhisarai District Monghyr and smuggles them to West Bengal
In the circumstances the State Government are satisfied that if Shree Rameshwar Lal Patwari is allowed to remain at large he will indulge in activities prejudicial to the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community
For prevention of such activities the State Government consider his detention necessary
Shri Rameshwar Lal Patwari is informed that he may make a representation in writing against the order under which he is detained
His representation if any may be addressed to the Under Secretary to Government Poli tical Special Department Bihar Patna and for warded through the Superintendent of the Jail as soon as possible
By order of the Governor of Bihar
 These grounds were challenged by the appellant in the High Court
According to him some of them did not exist in fact and others were vague or irrelevant
The High Court scrutinised them and came to the conclusion that his complaint had no substance
In this appeal he urges the same contentions and submits that the High Court was in error in its conclusion
508 Before we consider these grounds in the light of arguments before us we may say a few words about the and the extent to which the exercise of powers under that Act can be questioned before courts
Article 221 and 2 of the Constitution lay down that no person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult and to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice and further that the person arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest Magistrate within a period of twenty four hours and no person shall be detained beyond that period excluding the time necessary for the journey to the court of the Magistrate without the authority of the Magistrate
To this there is an exception in sub cl
b of cl
3 of the article
It says that these provisions shall not apply to any person who is arrested or detained under any law providing for preventive detention
There are however other safeguards
Clause 4 of the article provides that no law providing for preventive detention shall authorise the detention of a person for a longer period than three months unless an Advisory Board has reported before the expiration of that period of three months that there is in its opinion sufficient cause for such detention
There are other provisions prescribing other checks with which we are not presently concerned
In pursuance of this power Parliament has enacted the 
The by its third section enables the Central Government or the State Government if satisfied with respect to any person that with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community to make an order that such person be detained
There are other grounds on which the power to detain may also be exercised but they do not apply here
This power is also conferred on some officers named in the section
When an officer makes an order he has to report to the State Government together with the grounds on which the order is based and in the like manner the State Government has to report to the Central Government
Section 11 then provides that where an Advisory Board reports sufficient cause for the detention of a person Government may confirm the detention and continue it for such period as it thinks fit
If the Advisory Board reports that there is no sufficient cause Government must revoke the order and release the detenu
Section 11 A pow prescribes the maximum period of detention
It will thus be seen that the report of the Advisory Board plays in important part
In the present case the report of the Advisory Board has been produced
It reads In our opinion the grounds of detention served on the detenu also are fairly particular and generally well 509 founded
It cannot therefore be said that there is no material for his detention in the way in which he had been indulging in the transport of foodgrains from Bihar to West Bengal frequently
It cannot be held that the order of detention passed upon him is unreasonable
The order in his case also cannot be disturbed
Sd section C Mishra 25 8 67
Sd R K Choudhury
Sd U N Sinha
 The appellant contends that the Advisory Board has failed to notice also that the grounds furnished to him were vague and irrelevant and some of them did not exist in law
Now the law on the subject of Preventive Detention has been stated over and over again and it is not necessary to refer to all that has been decided by this Court on numerous occasions
We shall refer to what concerns this case
The formation of the opinion about detention rests with the Government or the officer authorised
Their satisfaction is all that the law speaks of and the courts are not constituted an appellate authority
Thus the sufficiency of the rounds cannot be agitated before the court
However the detention of a person without a trial merely on the subjective satisfaction of an authority however high is a serious matter
It must require the closest scrutiny of the material on which the decision is formed leaving no room for errors or at least avoidable errors
The very reason that the courts do not consider the reasonableness of the opinion formed or the sufficiency of the material on which it is based indicates the need for the greatest circumspection on the part of those who wield this power over others
Since the detenu is not placed before a Magistrate and has only a right of being supplied the grounds of detention with a view to his making a representation to the Advisory Board the grounds must not be vague or indefinite and must afford a real opportunity to make a representation against the detention
Similarly if a vital ground is shown to be non existing so that it could not have and ought not to have played a part in the material for consideration the court may attach some importance to this fact
Thus it was in Shibban Lal Saksena vs UP 1 that when Government itself confirmed the order on one ground rejecting the other the order was held unsustainable
This Court applied the case of the Federal Court in Keshav Talpade vs The King Emperor2 and held that the detention on the ground which survived could not be allowed to stand
The following observations may be quoted 
The detaining authority gave here two grounds for detaining the petitioner
We can neither decide whether these grounds are good or bad nor can we attempt 1 1954 1 SCR 418
2 510 to assess in what manner and to what extent each of these grounds operated on the mind of the appropriate authority and contributed to the creation of the satisfaction on the basis of which the detention order was made
To say that the other ground which still remains is quite sufficient to sustain the order would be to substitute an objective judicial test for the subjective decision of the executive authority which is against the legislative policy underlying the statute
In such cases we think the position would be the same as if one of these two grounds was irrelevant for the purpose of the Act or was wholly illusory and this would vitiate the detention order as a whole
 This case is strongly relied upon by Mr Setalvad for reasons which will soon appear
The other side relies upon observations in Bhim Sen vs State of Punjab1 where blackmarketing was considered a sufficient ground for detention
No doubt blackmarketing has at its base a shortening of supplies because blackmarket flourishes best when the availability of commodities is rendered difficult
It has a definite tendency to disrupt supplies when scarcity exists or scarcity is created artificially by hoarding to attain illegitimate profits
Indulging in blackmarketing is conduct which is prejudicial to the maintenance of supplies
It is hardly necessary to read supplies conjunctively with services as was contended although cases may exist where supplies and services may both be affected
The word and  is not used conjunctively but disjunctively
If sweepers strike no question of disrupting supplies arises but ser vices essential to the life of the community will certainly be disrupted
Looked at from this angle can we say that the detenu was supplied grounds which were not vague or indefinite or irrelevant or non existing  The grounds are five in number
Putting aside the first and fifth rounds for the time we may refer to the second third and fourth grounds first
The second ground says that his trucks always take to wicked routes to Saithia West Bengal and he himself pilots them This ground is extremely vague
It does not mention a single instance of a truck taking a particular route so that the detenu could prove to the satisfaction of the Advisory Board that the statement was false
Bhim Sen s case the conduct of the black marketer was shown in an appendix
Here no particulars are furnished and beyond denying the allegation the detenu cannot make effective representation
The details could not be such as were required to be concealed in the public interest under section 72 of the Act
The third ground that a businessman of Barahiya disclosed that he Rameshwarlal Patwari visited Barahiya on several occasions and purchased gram gramdal under various 1  511 names and smuggled them to West Bengal is equally vague
Learned counsel for the State admitted that some details were necessary to give the detenu an opportunity
It is obvious that without the names of shops dates of purchase etc
it is next to impossible to controvert such an allegation
The fourth ground speaks of a pending case in which the appellant is said to be on bail
The grounds were furnished in July 1967
The appellant was tried for the offence and acquitted as far back as February 1967
This ground discloses carelessness which is extremely disturbing
That the detaining authority does not know that the appellant was tried and acquitted months before and considers the pendency of the case against him as one of the grounds of detention shows that due care and attention is not being paid to such serious matters as detention without trial
If the appellant was tried and acquitted Government was required to study the judgment of acquittal to discover whether all these allegations had any basis in fact or not
One can understand the use of the case if the acquittal was technical but not when the case was held to be false
In any event even if there was no need to consider the result of the case the case could not be referred to as a pending case
What is still more disquieting is the attempt to avoid admitting frankly that there has been a mistake in including this ground
in the return this is what is said  That the facts stated in paragraph 4 of the ground of detention are not non est
Those facts stated in paragraph 4 even existed after acquittal
In regard to the facts stated in paragraph 4 the prosecution failed to prove the prosecution case and therefore he was acquitted
The detenu had full knowledge of the facts that he was acquitted by the Court in regard to the facts stated in paragraph 4 of the grounds of detention and therefore he was not handicapped in making a representation to the Advisory Board
 This means that anything wrong or even false may be stated in the grounds leaving the detenu to deny it and prove his version
The attempt to cover up the mistake is as futile as it is disingenuous
This leaves over the first and fifth grounds  The first charges the appellant with blackmarketing of foodgrains in conjunction with certain named persons
No facts are mentioned and this part of the ground is equally vague
No incident is cited except one
The ground goes on to say that his trucks jeep and car Ire registered in the names of his relatives
One such truck is mentioned namely truck No BRL 1331
It is said to be registered in the name of his brother in law and it is further stated that it was 512 caught on December 29 1966 at Ranibahal near Mashanjor while carrying 95 bags of paddy for illegal trade  and that in this connection a case under the Essential Commodities Act has been instituted against him 
It is hot clear who is meant the appellant or his brother in law
In a notice from the District Supply Officer Dumka it was stated  It was learnt from your driver that on 29 11 66 sic at 350 am ninety five bags of paddy 190 mds was coming from Ranibahal to Dumka in your truck BRL 1331 belonged to you
 The appellant has denied that the paddy belonged to him
He pointed out that in the notice it was admitted that the paddy was being taken to Dumka in Bihar while in the grounds it was stated that it was on its way to West Bengal and that carrying of goods from Ranibahal to Dumka both in Bihar was no offence
In his reply to the District Supply Officer the appellant had stated  1
I am a retail dealer in food grains holding foodgrain License No 204 of 1966
The truck bearing No BRL 1331 does not belong to me
The said 95 bags of paddy loaded on the said truck No BRL 1331 does not belong to me
The fact is that the said 95 bags of paddy belong to Shri Prahlad Rai Giluka of village Banskuli P section Ranishwar who is a cultivator which he had agreed to sell to me on condition that the delivery of the said paddy will be made to me at Dumka
I therefore request that the cause shown above be accepted and the proceedings if any may kindly be dropped
 It appears that Prahlad Rai Giluka of Mouza Banskuli P section Ranishwar confirmed this before the District Supply Officer by stating as follows  1
That your petitioner is a cultivator and owns more than 100 bighas of Dhani lands at Mouza Murgani Ranibahal and Kumnirdaha and other villages which are contiguous villages
That the petitioner s son Prabhudayal Giluka is to start a business and as such there was necessary sic of fund and the petitioner proposed to sell 95 bags of paddy to one Rameshwar Lal Patwari of Dumka from his Murgani and Ranibahal land
513 4
That it was agreed that the paddy will be delivered at Dumka where the price will be paid
That the petitioner accordingly engaged the truck of one Haris Chandar Agarwala his BRL 1331 and asked his Munshi Mahadev Pal to load 95 bags of paddy in the truck
That when the paddy in question was in the process of loading at Ranibahal the paddy was seized by the District Supply Officer on 29 12 66 8 9 10
That the paddy in question is not involved in any offence the same should be released forthwith
 When these documents came to be filed the return of the State Government made the following reply and avoided the issue 4 It appears that the notice was issued on the statement of the driver of the truck who stated that he was bringing 95 bags of paddy from Ranibahal to Dumka in the truck belonging to the appellant
The statement of the driver clearly shows that the truck belonged to the appellant
The driver did not  tell anything about the facts stated in annexure D  to special leave paper book Page 49 to 51
 This shows that there was no inquiry at all
The alleged statement of the driver was accepted and it was assumed that the paddy was being taken to West Bengal
At least the explanation of the persons concerned could have been obtained
This is clearly a case of jumping to a conclusion which is being lamely justified when it is questioned with written record
In these circumstances there is much reason to think that this ground probably did not exist although we are not in a position to say that it is non existing
The fifth ground mentions that one Babu Ram Bikanaria wanted gram and gramdal at his Rice Mill at Saitha District Birbhum West Bengal and visiting Dumka contacted the appellant
The latter promised to supply gram and gramdal
On 78 December 1966 one Mulchand Choudhury sent truck No BRJ 2029 loaded with gram and gramdal to Saitha through Mahesh Kola checkpost
Further Mulchand s truck No BRL 1366 and van BRL 2005 were found at Raneshwar on December 7 1966 from where he  smuggles foodgrains to West Bengal He  pur chases ram and gramdal through Gopal Mandal of Lakhisarai Dist
Monghyr and smuggles them to West Bengal
It is again Sup
C168 2 514 not clear who this he  is
The appellant has denied that he does in gram and gramdal and has any connection with Gopal Mandal of Lakhisarai or knows him
He has denied all contact with such persons
No reply to this was given in the return filed in this Court
It appears that there may be suspicion that the appellant may be connected with some blackmarketing
We are not concerned with the sufficiency or the reasonableness of the grounds
In this case at least two grounds are vague one ground is found to be false and of the remaining in one there is no explanation and in the other there is a lame excuse that the driver of the truck did not furnish the full information
The case is thus covered by our rulings that where some grounds are found to be non existing or are cancelled or given up the detention cannot be justified
It is further covered by our decisions that if the grounds are not sufficiently precise and do not furnish details for the purpose of making effective representation the detention can be questioned
This case displays both these defects and it is a matter of great regret that powers of detention without a trial which should be exercised with the greatest care and attention have been exercised in this case with such disregard for truth and accuracy
We accordingly allow the appeal and hold the detention of the appellant to be illegal and order his release
GC Appeal allowed


Summary:
The appellant was detained under an order of the Governor of Bihar State under section 31aiii of the 
The grounds of detention supplied to him mentioned that he was engaged in the black marketing of food grains
He made a representation before the Advisory Board but his release was not recommended
In a writ petition before the High Court he urged that the grounds of detention supplied to him were either vague or non existent
The petition having been dismissed by High Court the appellant by special leave came to this Court
HELDi The formation of the opinion about detention rests with the Government or the officer authorised
Their satisfaction is all that the law speaks of and the courts are not constituted an appellate authority
Thus the sufficiency of the grounds cannot be agitated before the court
However the detention of a person without a trial merely on the subjective satisfaction of an authority however high is a serious matter
it must require the closest scrutiny of the material on which the decision is fo leaving no room for errors or at least avoidable errors
Since the detenu is not placed before a Magistrate and has only a right of being supplied the grounds of detention with a view to his making a representation to the Advisory Board the grounds must not be vague or indefinite and must afford a real opportunity to make a representation against the detention
If a vital ground is shown to be non existing so that it could not have and ought not to have played a part in the material for consideration the court may attach some importance to this fact
509 D G Shibban Lai Saksena vs UP  and Keshav Talpade The King Emperor referred to
ii Black marketing is a sufficient ground for detention because it has a definite tendency to disrupt supplies when scarcity exists or scarcity is created artificially by hoarding to attain illegitimate profits
Indulging in black marketing is conduct which is prejudicial to the maintenance of supplies
It is hardly necessary to read supplies conjunctively with services although cases may exist where supplies and services may both be affected
The word and  is not used conjunctively but disjunctively
If sweepers strike no question of disrupting supplies arises but services essential to the life of the community will certainly be disruped
510 B Bhim Sen vs State of Punjab   referred to
iiiThe grounds of detention supplied to the appellant were either non existent or vague or otherwise deficient and did not justify the detention of the appellant
It was a matter of great regret that powers of detention without a trial which should be exercised with the greatest care and attention had been exercised in this case with disregard for truth and accuracy
514 B D