VISHAL VIJAY TAMHANEKAR AND ORS. Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both Writ Petitions are filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking writs of Habeas Corpus. We would not ordinarily have thought it appropriate to deliver a common judgment in matters such as these. However, as the following narrative shows, this is inevitable and necessary.

(2.) At the broadest level, in Petitions relating to matters of preventive detention, the Court is not concerned with the actual merits of the subjective satisfaction recorded by the Detaining Authority. The Court limits itself, as it must do, to the sufficiency and adequacy of the decision-making process. If that process be found to be in accordance with the law, one that is well settled by now, the order of preventive detention will undoubtedly be upheld. On the other hand, when the Court find a lacuna or inadequacy in the decision-making process, it will set aside the order of detention.

(3.) Writ Petition No. 3129 of 2015 seeks the quashing of an order dated 10th July 2015 passed under Section 3(1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Preservation of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 ("COFEPOSA"). This order requires the detention in Nasik Road Central Prison of one Vijay Ankush Tamhanekar ("Tamhanekar"). The Petitioner is Tamhanekar's son.