( 1 ) THE Government of Maharashtra. on 18th March,1983 passed an order under Sub-section (1) of Sub-section 3 of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act 1974 (hereinafter for the sake of brevity called (The Act ) for the detention of Mr. Andrew Cornelius Schmidtz, a U. S. A. national with a view to preventing him from smuggling goods.

( 2 ) BY this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the legality and vires of the aforesaid order have been challenged.

( 3 ) MR. Kapil Sibal, learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that there has been a violation of Section 8 (e) of the Act, inasmuch as the Advisory Board did not submit its report to the detaining authority within II weeks from the date of detention of the petitioner.

( 4 ) THE relevant facts for the appreciation of this contention are that the petitioner was detained by an order dated 18th March 1983. As required by law the Government made a reference to the Advisory Board. The opinion given by the Advisory Board bears the date 2nd June 1983. The period of II weeks (the period within which the Advisory Board is required to submit the opinion) expi