JUDGMENT

K. JAGANNATHA SHETTY, J :— This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment dated April 14, 1988 of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in writ. petition No. 4454 of 1988 whereby the order of detention passed against the respondent under the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980 ("The Act" was quashed.

2. Briefly stated the facts are these: The respondent was said to have smuggled paddy from Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu. During the watch kept by the Inspector, Vigilance Cell, Civil Supplies Department, Nellore on the night of November 4, 1987 a lorry bearing No. MDN-8505 carrying 125 bags of paddy was spotted when it was trying to go to Tamil Nadu avoiding check post. The lorry was chased by the Inspector of Police and his staff. The driver suddenly stopped the lorry, but the persons in the vehicle took to heals jumping out therefrom and disappeared in the bushes. The respondent was identified by the Inspector of Police and his staff in the head lights of the jeep in which they were chasing. The driver of the vehicle was apprehended after a hot chase, but not the respondent. From the interrogation of the drive