Judgment

P. JAGANMOHAN REDDY, J. :- This petition under Article 32 challenges the detention under the West Bengal (Prevention of Violent Activities) Act, 1970 (hereinafter called the Act ). It may be mentioned that this and other Writ Petitions were adjourned till the decision of this Court on the validity an vires of the Act which has now been decided in the State of West Bengal v. Ashok Dey, Cri Appeals Nos. 217 to 233 of 1971, D/- 19-11-1971

2. In that case it has been held that the provisions of the Act do not contravene any of the mandates of the Constitution; as such this Petition and the others which had stood over till that decision have come up for consideration as to whether the detentions are legal.

3. In this and other petitions three main contentions have been urged on behalf of the respective petitioners by Shri S. K. Mehta who is assisting us as Amicus Curiae. They are (I) Whether the mandatory provisions of the Act have been complied with; (ii) whether the ground are irrelevant or vague and (iii) whether the State Government has confirmed the opinion of the Advisory Board that there was sufficient cause for detaining them within three months, from the date of the detention and whether the communication to the detenu has been made within that period.

4. We shall give the dates of relevant steps taken in respect of each of the detenus but before we do so it will be convenient to deal with the legal submissions in the light of which the facts of each case can be better appreciated.

5. The mandatory requirements under the Act are that the order of detention must be passed by the detaining authority, that it should be forthwith communicated under sub-section (4) of Section 3 to the State Government together with the grounds of detention. It is provided by Section 8 that the grounds of detention must be served on the detenu within 5 days from the date of detention, that these must be approved by the State Government within 12 days from that date and thereafter as soon as may be a report of this fact together with the grounds and other particulars on which the order has been made should be made to the Central Government under Clause (5) of Section 3 and that under Section 10 the State Government is required to place within 30 days from the date of detention before the Advisory Board (hereinafter called the Board ) constituted under Section 9, the grounds of detention, the representation of the detenu, if any, along with the report made in case of a detention by an officer specified in sub-sec. (3) of section 3. Thereafter it is incumbent on the Advisory Board after hearing the detenu in person if he so desires to report to the State Government under Section 11 its opinion within ten weeks from the date of detention, as to whether or not there is sufficient cause for the detention of the person concerned. Under Section 12 where the Board is of opinion that there is sufficient cause for detention of a person, the State Government may confirm the detention order and continue the detention of the person concerned for such period as it thinks fit. In case the opinion of the Board is that there is no sufficient cause for detention the State Government shall revoke the detention order and cause the person to be released forthwith. The maximum period for which any person may be detained in pursuance of any detention order which has been confirmed shall under Section 13, be twelve months from the date of detention, but the State Government can within that period notwithstanding that the order has been made by an officer specified in sub-section (3) of Section 3 revoke or modify the order of detention, which however, does not preclude it from making a fresh order under Section 3 against the same person in a case where fresh facts come into existence after the date of revocation or expiry provided either the State Government or the officer specified in sub-section (3) of Section 3 as the case may be considers that such an order sho