Validity of the provisions of Regulation 1912.

Rajagopala Ayyangar, J.- These two writ petitions raise for consideration the validity of the orders passed, whereby the petitioners, who are the natives of Malabar, have been prevented from entering the Island of Minicoy in the Arabian Sea. These petitions originally came on for hearing before one of us sitting singly, but in view of a challenge to the validity of section 33 of the Laccadive Islands and Minicoy Regulation 1 of 1912, it was directed to be posted before a Bench and they were heard by us. The learned Advocate-General appeared for the State, and we are obliged to him for the assistance he rendered us.

The facts giving rise to the petition were briefly these: W.P. No. 533 of 1955 is by a single petitioner. He is a native of Malabar District, of which Minicoy Island forms part. He claims to have been permitted to reside in this island for about 18 years past, carrying on there a business in grocery. He also claims to have married a native of the island and to have two children by her. All these years the petitioner was having a valid permit from the Collector of Malabar for staying in the island the permit being renewed every year. While so, he states, that in December, 1954, he received an order from the Island Inspecting Officer, who has been impleaded as the first respondent in these petitions, informing him that his permit for staying in the island had been cancelled; similar orders were passed in respect of eight others, five of whom are the petitioners in W.P. No. 646 of 1955. The order, dated 13th December, 1954, required these nine individuals to leave the island by the first available boat for the mainland. The ground upon which this order was made was, that these nine mainlanders were creating factions and indulging in improper activities, and that in the interests of peace and tranquillity of the island it was considered necessary that these persons should not be allowed to stay in the island any more. A boat left the island the next day, and these individuals were put on board that vessel and were brought to Malabar. They preferred an appeal to the Collector of Malabar from the order of the Island Inspecting Officer cancelling their permit and deporting them to the mainland but this appeal was dismissed. The petitioner in W.P. No. 533 of 1955 thereupon preferred a revision petition to the Government praying for their interference. This petition wound up with the prayer that he might be permitted to go back to his wife and children in the Minicoy Island. The Government did not pass any order on this petition immediately and W.P. No. 533 of 1955 was filed to quash the order of the Island Inspecting Officer cancelling the permit and ordering deportation, the Collector of Malabar who had dismissed the appeal of the petitioner-being impleaded as the second respondent. The Government finally passed their order in G.O. Ms. No. 2198, dated 23rd June, 1955, rejecting the petitions of the nine deportees and instead passed an order under section 33(a) and 33(b) of the Laccadive Islands and Minicoy Regulation, 1912 (Central Regulation 1 of 1912) requiring these nine persons to leave Minicoy Islands" and prohibiting them "from visiting or taking up their residence in the said land of which they are not natives". This order was not served upon the petitioner in W.P. No. 533 of 1955 by the date on which he filed that writ petition, and W.P. No. 646 of 1955 is directed to challenge the validity of the order of the Government whose material portion we have extracted above.

In view of the order of Government under section 33 it is not necessary to convass minutely the validity of the order of the Island Inspecting Officer, as to whether he had or had not the power to cancel the permit and direct deportation. So far as we have been able to gather from the regulations, he does not appear to possess such a power. But this does not really benefit the petitioner, because section 33 of Regulation I of 1912 undoubtedly empowers t

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