JUDGMENT :

As these writ petitions raise a common challenge to the legality of orders of detention passed by the respondents under the GST Act, they are taken up together for consideration and disposed by this common judgment.

2. I have heard Sri.Shrikumar, the learned Senior Counsel, duly assisted by Sri.Manoj Chandran for the petitioner in W.P(C) No.22608 of 2020, Sri.A.Kumar, the learned counsel for the petitioner in W.P(C).No.22072 of 2020, Sri.Karthik S. Nair, the learned counsel for the petitioner in W.P(C) No.17379 of 2020 and the learned Govt. Pleader Smt.Dr. Thushara James for the respondents in all the writ petitions.

3. For the sake of convenience, the general provisions regarding detention and their scope and ambit are discussed first, and the application of the legal principles to the facts of the individual cases discussed thereafter. I have chosen to resort to said format because I have come across numerous instances of writ petitions being filed in passed under the GST this court challenging detention orders Act when the scheme of the Act clearly indicates that the writ court is not to be ordinarily approached in detention cases where effective alternate remedies by wa