VIJAY KUMAR Vs. DISTRICT MAGISTRATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS reference by Hqn'ble Mufti Baha-ud-Din Farooqi, J. , arises in the following circumstances:

(2.) APPEARING on behalf of the petitioner Mr. Sharma has advanced a very Ingenious argument. He has submitted that the expression "as soon as may be" occurring in Clause (5) of Article 22 of the Constitution of India has the same meaning as it has under Clause (1) of that Article. Elaborating his contention the learned Counsel has submitted that since a person arrested for the alleged contravention of a penal law has to be informed of the grounds of his arrest either at that very time or within a period of twenty-four hours of his arrest when he is produced before the nearest Magistrate, the communication of the grounds of detention to a detenu cannot also be delayed beyond twenty-four hours of is (sic) arrest and that Section 8 of the Act which gives a discretion to the detaining authority to communicate the grounds of detention within five days in the ordinary course and within fifteen days in the abnormal course, as already stated, is unconstitutional being repugnant to Clauses (1) and (2) of Article 32 of the Constitution. He has further contended that since the founding fathers of the Constitution provided in Clauses (1) and (2) of Article 22 that the grounds of arrest must be communicated to the person arrested for contravention of a penal law within twenty-four hours of his arrest, a different intention cannot be imputed to them in respect of an arrest made under a law relating to preventive detention. He has in support of his contention invited our attention to the following sentence occurring at, page 276 in "the Interpretation of Statutes" by Sir Peter Benson Maxwell (English Edition): It is, at all events, reasonable to presume that the same meaning is implied by the use of the same expression in every part of an Act.

(3.) MR. Amarchand has, on the other hand, urged that Sub-section (1) of Section 8 of the Act is perfectly valid and constitutional. He has submitted that the expression "as soon as may be" occurring in the aforesaid provision which is merely a reproduction of Clause (5) of Article 22 of the Constitution postulates a reasonably convenient time and that the fact that it is not susceptible of the interpretation sought to be placed on it by Mr. Sharma is evident from the language of Clause (3), of Article 22 of the Constitution.