Judicial Review in Preventive Detention Limited to Legality, Not Merits of Allegations: High Court
Jammu, July 22: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has ruled that courts exercising judicial review in preventive detention matters under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) cannot act as appellate forums to re-evaluate the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority merely because another interpretation of the available material may also be possible.
The significant observation was made by Justice M.A. Chowdhary while dismissing a habeas corpus petition filed against the preventive detention of a resident of Samba under the provisions of the J&K Public Safety Act.
In its judgment, the Court reiterated that the scope of judicial review in preventive detention cases is narrow and confined to examining the legality of the detention process. It observed that the High Court cannot substitute its own opinion for that of the detaining authority or interfere with the detention order solely on the ground that a different conclusion could have been reached on the same set of facts.
The Court further clarified that writ courts are not empowered to determine whether the allegations forming the basis of the detention are true or false. It noted that assessing the correctness of such allegations would involve appreciation of evidence, which falls outside the ambit of judicial review in preventive detention proceedings.
Justice Chowdhary observed that questions relating to the truthfulness or otherwise of the allegations are required to be examined by the Advisory Board constituted under the preventive detention law, and not by the High Court while exercising its writ jurisdiction.
Reaffirming the settled legal position, the High Court held that judicial scrutiny in PSA matters is restricted to verifying whether the constitutional and statutory safeguards have been complied with and whether the detention order suffers from any procedural or legal infirmity.
The Court emphasized that the writ court’s role is limited to ensuring the legality of the detention process and cannot extend to reassessing the merits of the allegations or reviewing the subjective satisfaction recorded by the detaining authority.(KNC)
