Judgment

Nanavati, J.-The petitioner has filed this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution challenging the order of detention passed against him under Section 3(1) of the Cofeposa Act, 1974. The order is chal­lenged on three grounds, namely, (1) there was delay in passing the detention order (2) there was delay in execution of the detention order and (3) a copy of the written proposal made by the sponsoring authority to the detaining authority was not supplied to the petition­er.

2. It is not necessary to state the facts leading to the passing of the detention order as we are inclined to allow this petition on the second ground raised by Mr. K.K. Mani, learned counsel for the peti­tioner. The order of detention was passed on 14.3.1996. The petition­er came to be detained on 7.8.1997. The contention raised by Mr. Mani is that there was undue delay in execution of the order and that clearly indicates that there was no genuine satisfaction on the part of the detaining authority regarding the necessity of immediate deten­tion of the petitioner in order to prevent him from committing and continuing to commit the prejudicial activity alleged against him. In reply to this contentio