JUDGMENT

This is an application bya detainee, Mohd Fadzli, for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus by this Court for his release from a detention center for drug addicts known as “Pusat Serenti Karangan”.

He alleges that hisdetention is unlawful by reason of the fact that the Magistrate at Butterworth, in issuing the detention order, had acted on an invalid medical certificate allegedly issued by a Government Medical Officer.

His counsel, in his written submission,contends that as the medical certificate was invalid, it follows that the detention order, was also invalid.

His counsel argues that the medical certificate was materially defective because the prescribed format requires the nameof the medical officer who purportedly issued the certificate to be written below the alleged signature of the said officer, but this was not done.

That the name of the medical officer was not written below the signature is not disputed bythe parties. What is in issue is the effect of such an omission. The learned Federal Counsel, Puan Zaliha, for the respondents, submits that such an omission does not render the order invalid because the name of the medical officer, although not stated belowthe si