Whereas, I, T.K. Rajendran, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai Police, am satisfied that with respect to the person known as Thiru Murugan, male, aged 26, S/o. Easkki Muthu, No.10/23, Subash Street, Thandiarkulam Village & Post, Tirunelveli District is a Goonda as contemplated under section 2(f) of the Tamil Nadu Act 14 of 1982 and that with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order, it is necessary to make the following order.
Now, therefore, in exercise of the power conferred on me by sub section (1) of section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous activities of Bootleggers, Cyber Law Offenders, Drug Offenders, Forest Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Sand Offenders, Sexual Offenders, Slum Grabbers and Video Pirates Act, 1982 (Tamil Nadu Act 14 of 1982) read with orders issued by the Government in G.O.(D) No.189, Home, Prohibition and Excise (XVI) Department dated 18th October, 2015 and under sub-Section (2) of Section 3 of the said Act, I hereby direct that the said Goonda Thiru Murugan, S/o. Esakki Muthu be detained and kept in custody at the Central Prison, Puzhal, Chennai.
Sd/-
Commissioner of Police Greater Chennai Police, Chennai-7 Given under my hand and seal of this office, on this 4th day of December, 2015”
12. From the plain language of the impugned detention order, it is seen that the stated Government Order dated 18th October, 2015 is an order issued by the State Government authorizing or delegating power to the Commissioner of Police, Chennai, to issue order under Section 3(2) of the Act of 1982. The question is, whether it was mandatory for the Detaining Authority to supply copy of this Government order to the detenu. The order having been issued in exercise of powers conferred under Section 3(1) of the Act of 1982 and being a statutory order has nothing to do with the grounds of detention. What is imperative is to supply all the documents which are relied upon by the Detaining Authority for forming subjective satisfaction for the purposes of Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India. The Government order, however, is regarding the delegation of power to the Commissioner of Police to issue detention order. The validity of that order has not been challenged by the petitioner. In other words, the power of the Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai Police, Chennai to pass a detention order, is not put in issue. The said Government order is not relevant for forming subjective satisfaction by the Detaining Authority. The grounds of detention are about the prejudicial activities in which the detenu had indulged in the past; or in the view of the Detaining Authority the detenu has the propensity to indulge in similar prejudicial activities even in future. That is the quintessence for exercising power to detain any person. Suffice it to observe that the subject document, not being a relied upon document in the grounds of detention or for forming subjective satisfaction by the Detaining Authority, failure to furnish copy thereof to the detenu does not vitiate the action taken by the Detaining Authority nor the continued detention of the detenu. In our opinion, even this submission is devoid of merits.
13. The counsel for the petitioner, relying on the decision in R. Kalavathi v. State of T.N. and Others, (2006) 6 SCC 14, lastly contended that the subjective satisfaction of the Detaining Authority is founded only on solitary ground case being Crime No.2348 of 2015. According to him, an action under the Act of 1982 can be initiated or resorted to only against habitual offenders and not where it is a case of solitary crime. The argument, though attractive at the first blush, deserves to be stated to be rejected. The ground of detention must be read as a whole. No doubt, it principally relies on the ground case being Crime No.2348 of 2015 but also adverts to other serious offences registered against the detenu and pending trial, such as Crime No.598 of 2015 registered at D.6 Anna Square Police Station; Crime No.3/2015 registered at Aavudaiyar Koil Police Station and including the conduct of the detenu when he tried to escape from police custody. The totality of the circumstances having been taken into account by the Detaining Authority, there is no reason to doubt the subjective satisfaction arrived at for issuance of the impugned detention order, in the fact situation of the present case. Notably, this ground has been urged in the rejoinder submissions. Accordingly, even this contention does not deserve any further consideration.
14. For the above reasons, this petition must fail and is dismissed.
................................J.
[ANIL R. DAVE] ................................J.
[A.M. KHANWILKAR] NEW DELHI;
NOVEMBER 17, 2016.