JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J.-Leave granted.

2. In both these two appeals the Union of India questions legality of the judgment rendered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashing the order of detention passed by the concerned authority under Section 3(1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (in short the COFEPOSA ).

3. A brief reference to the factual aspects which is almost undisputed would suffice.

4. Since the points for adjudication are common to both the appeals the factual position in SLP (Crl.) No. 3901/2003 is noted for convenience as the only difference between this case and the other case relates to the dates. The order of detention was passed under Section 3(1) of COFEPOSA on 31.10.2001. The respondent filed a writ petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 20.12.2001 and on 21.12.2001 an order staying operation of the detention order was passed. On 31.5.2002 the High Court decided that it had territorial jurisdiction to deal with the matter, but dismissed the writ petition. An application for review was filed on the ground that though it was noted that the writ petition was dismissed, in fact the various point