Judgement

KRISHNA IYER, J. :- The detenu, petitioner, challenges his detention on various grounds but Shri H. S. Marwah, appearing as amicus curiae has raised big contentions and small, some of which do not merit consideration and others need not be dealt with since, on a short point, the petition must succeed.

2. The scheme of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, 1971 (Act No. 26 of 1971) (hereinafter called the MISA, for short) is in keeping with Article 22 of the Constitution and emphasizes the various stages at which there will be consideration of the need for the detention by different authorities, such as the District Magistrate, the State Government and ultimately the Central Government. For the effective exercise of this power a scheme has been built into the statute. We are concerned at present with the power vested in the Central Government under Section14(1)(b) to direct release of the detenu. We may extract the provision here :

"14(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of Section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, a detention order may, at any time, be revoked or modified -

x x x x x x x x x x

(b) notwithstanding that the order has been made by State Government,or by