By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In a setback to the State Government, the High Court of Meghalaya on Wednesday set aside the detention order of GNLA chairman Champion Sangma issued by the District Magistrate, Tura, following the failure of the authority to inform the militant chief of his rights to make a representation against the order, besides other loopholes.
In Wednesday’s hearing, Justice TMK Singh cancelled the Meghalaya Preventive Detention (Amendment) Act (MPDA) order issued by the District Magistrate, Tura, on January 30, 2013, against Champion, on the grounds that the authority violated Article 22 (50) of the Constitution.
Article 22 (50) of the Constitution states – ‘When any person is detained in pursuance of an order made under any law providing for preventive detention, the authority making the order shall, as soon as may be, communicate to such person the grounds on which the order has been made and shall afford him the earliest opportunity of making a representation against the order’.
Further, the failure of the administration to get the detention order approved by the State Government within 12 days resulted in the action of the West Garo Hills District Magistrate becoming null and void, the court ruled.
“The procedures of the law laid down was not followed by the authority,
henceforth, the order has died out,” Sangma’s lawyer Sujit Dey informed reporters here on Wednesday.
Another loophole in this order was the non-disposal of Sangma’s representation against the order by the State Government.
“This is the first time that a detention order was set aside by the court of law within four months of its issuance,” Dey added.
The court also observed that the State Government cannot arrest the GNLA chief in two cases under the MPDA.
It was the East Garo Hills District Magistrate who had first issued orders under MPDA against the militant leader on January 28, 2013, which was followed by similar orders from the West Garo Hills District Magistrate the next day.
“The West Garo Hills District Magistrate did not use his mind when he book Sangma under MPDA as the same person cannot be booked under the same case in two different places,” Dey said.
Another hearing on the Williamnagar MPDA case will be held tentatively on Friday.
“We are challenging the detention order and like the Tura case, this case also has many loopholes as many procedures were not followed while issuing the detention order,” Dey stated.
The lawyer hoped that the Williamnagar detention order will also be set aside after which they would apply for bail on the pending Pynursla case under Sections 16, 17, 38 (1 & 2) of Unlawful Activity Prevention Act.