Mukherjea, J.-These sixteen appeals arise out of as many applications presented by the different appellants under section 491, of the Criminal Procedure Code, complaining of illegal detention under section 2(1)(a) of the Bihar Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1949.

The appellants were originally arrested under the Bihar Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1947. That Act, which received the assent of the Governor-General on 15th of March, 1947, was to remain operative under section 1(3) of the Act for a period of one year only from the date of its commencement, subject to a proviso engrafted upon the sub-section itself, which empowered the Provincial Government to extend it, with or without modifications, for a further period of one year, by means of a notification, on a resolution being passed to that effect by the Bihar Legislative Assembly and agreed to by the Bihar Legislative Council. On the nth of March, 1948, the Provincial Government of Bihar, in exercise of their powers under the proviso mentioned above, extended the application of the Act for a further period of one year from 15th March, 1948, and it was during this extended period that the orders for arrest and