JUDGMENT :

1. The petitioner Jasbir Maan through his wife Smt. Anila Maan has preferred this petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus calling upon the respondents to produce the corpus of the petitioner and to release him from the alleged unlawful detention under the National Security Act (hereinafter referred to as “Act”). The petitioner has also prayed for the quashing of the detention order dated 15.10.2019 passed by the District Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar for detaining the petitioner under Section 3 (2) of the Act.

2. The petitioner is a builder having its organisation Maan Properties and Developers. He had constructed multi-storied buildings consisting of 261 flats on Khasra No. 35/46/164 in village Shahberi, District Gautam Buddh Nagar sometime in the year 2017-18. He had transferred/sold about 169 of the said flats by registered deeds to the public at large.

3. It is alleged that his construction activities are illegal and that he had raised constructions of the above multi-storied buildings illegally on the land acquired by the Greater NOIDA Industrial Development Authority (hereinafter referred to “GNIDA”) by unauthorizedly purchasing it from the tenure-holders by using substandard material in violation of the bye-laws without getting the layout/map sanctioned.

4. In connection with the aforesaid activities, it appears that various FIRs were lodged against the petitioner on 16.10.2018 registered as Case Crime No. 968 of 2018; on 23.11.2018 registered as Case Crime No. 1186 of 2018; on 30.09.2019 registered as Case Crime No. 1094 of 2019.

5. The petitioner when in jail in connection with one of the aforesaid cases i.e. Case Crime No. 1094 of 2019 was served with the impugned order of detention dated 15.10.2019 passed by the District Magistrate in exercise of powers under Section 3 (2) of the Act directing for detaining him in order to maintain public order.

6. The detention order was followed by the grounds of detention which were duly communicated to the petitioner as contemplated under Section 8 of the Act to enable him to represent.

7. The grounds of detention are very comprehensive and have been enclosed as Annexure-2 to the writ petition. The aforesaid grounds narrate in detail the facts leading to the passing of the above detention order. It clearly states that the GNIDA in the year 1994 in pursuance to its proclaimed activities started acquisition of land of village Shahberi. The acquisition so started on being challenged in the High Court was quashed on 12.05.2011 which order attained finality. Thus, GNIDA restarted fresh acquisition proceedings in the year 2013 whereupon again writ petitions were filed in the High Court and an interim order was passed in one of the writ petitions on 16.10.2014 directing for the maintenance of status-quo. The other writ petitions were tagged with it.

8. The aforesaid interim order was well publicized by putting notices but the petitioner illegally went on purchasing the said land from the villagers and raised constructions without getting the land use changed from the agricultural to residential or abadi. At least 431 flats in all were constructed by various builders including the petitioner with substandard material as a result, two of the building/towers of one of the other builders collapsed on 17.07.2018 and 9 people lost their lives. In connection with it, 72 FIRs were lodged against 262 persons. On account of the above incident, there was mass unrest leading to “dharna pradarshan” by the public. The builders provoked the people for such “dharna pradarshan” which disturbed the peace and tranquility of the area.

9. Insofar as the petitioner is concerned, it has been stated that he constructed 261 flats in village Shahberi on Khasra Nos. 45/40/64 in the year 2017-18. All the said constructions are illegal and substandard. The constructions were raised by him without any sanction and permission of the GNIDA. The petitioner has sold 169 flats without obtaining completio