Court No. - 46
Case :- HABEAS CORPUS WRIT PETITION No. - 806 of 2020 Petitioner :- Kali Prasad @ Pandit Singh Respondent :- Union Of India And 5 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Raj Kumar Singh,Anil Kumar Yadav Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Ajay Singh,G.A.
Hon'ble Surya Prakash Kesarwani,J. Hon'ble Piyush Agrawal,J.
Heard Sri Daya Shankar Mishra, learned Senior Advocate, assisted by Sri Chandrakesh Mishra, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri Rishi Chaddha, learned A.G.A. for the State-respondents and Sri Ajay Singh, learned Central Government Counsel for the respondent no.1.
Supplementary counter affidavit dated 26.07.2021 on behalf of the respondent no.1 and supplementary rejoinder affidavit dated 27.07.2021 have been filed today, both are taken on record.
Learned Senior Advocate has referred paragraph no.3 of the rejoinder affidavit and submitted that there occurred unexplained delay of 57 days, which is fatal. Reliance has been placed on judgment in the case of Rajammal Versus State of Tamil Nadu and another AIR 1999 SC, 684, in which it has been held that:-
"It is for the authority concerned to explain the delay, if any, in disposing the representation. It is not enough to say that the delay was very short. Even longer delay can as well be explained. So the test is not the duration or range of delay, but how it is explained by the authority concerned. It was further held that delay from 09.02.1998 to 14.02.1998 remains unexplained and such unexplained delay has vitiated the further detention of the detenue. The corollary thereof is that further detention must necessarily be disallowed".
He, therefore, submits that since delay of 57 days in deciding the representation is unexplained and, therefore, further detention of the petitioner is wholly illegal and unwarranted. Therefore, the writ petition deserves to be allowed Learned Central Government Counsel has referred paragraph no.4 of the supplementary counter affidavit dated 26.07.2021 and submitted that the delay has been well explained and thus there was no delay on the part of Central Government to pass appropriate order/to reject the representation of the petitioner.
Judgment reserved.
Order Date :- 27.7.2021 T.S.