(J.M. Shelat, V. Bhargava, C.A. Vaidialingam and I.D. Dua, JJ.)
Loke Nath Dey ____________________________________ Petitioner;
v.
State of West Bengal _____________________________ Respondent.
Writ Petition No. 249 of 1969, decided on September 10, 1969
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
J.M. Shelat, J.:—
1. In this writ petition the difficulty which we found in Writ Petition No. 248 of 1969 also occurs. The petitioner made his representation on 7-7-1969. The affidavit-in-reply filed by the State Government does not state as to whether the State Government at all considered that representation or not.
2. From the file produced by the learned counsel for the State before us, it appears that the only thing that was done in the matter of the petitioner’s representation was to send it to the Advisory Board. It is thus clear that the State Government failed to discharge the obligation cast upon it under Article 22(5) of the Constitution, namely, to consider the petitioner’s representation as expeditiously as possible.
3. As held by us in Khairul Haque v. State of W.B.1 such a failure renders the detention illegal.
4. The result, therefore, is that the petition has to be allowed and the petitioner directed to be released forthwith.
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1 Writ Petition No. 246 of 1969 decided on dated 10-9-1969
