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TMI Blog1965 (2) TMI 103X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... out certain facts with respect to the position Shri Lall Singh was occupying on 30/06/1964 when the order of detention was passed. It appears that Shri P. N. Bhalla was the District Magistrate of Amritsar in April 1964. He was ordered to be transferred to the Secretariat by an order passed on 23/04/1964. At that time Shri Lall Singh was the Additional District Magistrate of Amritsar and had been inter alia invested under S. 10(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as the Code) with all the powers of a District Magistrate under the Code or under any other law for the time being in force by an order which had been passed on 10/04/1963. Further when the order of transfer of Shri Bhalla was made, instructions were issued that Shri Bhalla should hand over charge to Shri Lall Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, who would hold the current charge of the post of Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar till further orders. It appears that Shri Bhalla handed over charge of the office of the Deputy Commissioner to Shri Lall Singh on the afternoon of 15/05/1964 in accordance with the instructions above mentioned, and thus Shri Lall Singh was in current charge of the o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... missioner and as no one else had been posted in Amritsar between May 16 and 30/06/1964 as District Magistrate he was in fact and in law the District Magistrate of Amritsar. We do not think it necessary for purposes of this case to decide the first point raised by the learned Advocate General, for We have come to the conclusion that no officer other than the District Magistrate of a District can pass an order of detention under R. 30 of the Rules in view of the provisions of the Act and of the Rules to which We shall now refer. S. 3(1) of the Act gives poWer to the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette to make such rules as appear to it necessary or expedient for securing the defence of India and civil defence, the public safety, the maintenance of public order or the efficient conduct of military operations, or for maintaining supplies and services essential to the life of community. S. 3(2) the provides for the making of rules for various purposes without prejudice to the generality of the poWers conferred by S. 3(1), and the 15th clause thereof provides for detention. The relevant portion of that clause necessary for our purposes reads thus:-' (15) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... her be exercised by the State Government or by its delegate who, however, can in no case be lower in rank than a District Magistrate. The Act and the Rules, therefore, show unmistakably that the power of detention can only be exercised by the State Government or an officer or authority to whom it might be delegated but who shall in no case be lower in rank than a District Magistrate. , We may in this connection contrast the language of S. 3(2) of the Preventive Detention Act, No. 4 of 1950, which lays down that any of the following officers, namely: (a) district magistrate, (b) Additional District Magistrate specially empowered in this behalf by the State Government, (c)**** (d)**** may exercise the powers conferred by S. 3(1)(a) (ii) and (iii). If the intention under the Act and the Rules was that the Additional District Magistrate may also exercise the power of detention conferred thereunder we would have found a provision similar to that contained in the Preventive Detention Act. Two questions then arise on the view we hold that no officer below the rank of a District Magistrate can exercise the power of detention under the Act and the Rules. The first is w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Magistrate of Amritsar to the effect that Shri Bhalla should hand over charge to Shri Lall Singh who will hold the current charge of the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar. This means that there was a temporary vacancy on the transfer of Shri Bhalla and Shri Lall Singh temporarily succeeded to the chief executive administration of the district. As such he would be entitled to exercise the powers of the District Magistrate under the Code under S. 11. Further as he had been empowered as Additional District Magistrate to exercise powers of the District Magistrate under any other law for the time being in force, he would exercise those powers also by virtue of being so authorised. But even though Shri Bhalla may have gone away after handing over charge on the afternoon of 15/05/1964 Shri Lall Singh could not and did not become the District Magistrate of Amritsar in the absence of a notification under S. 10(1) of the Code by the State Government. The instructions to which we have already referred cannot in our opinion take the place of a notification under S.10(1) of the Code. Therefore, though Shri Lall Singh may be exercising all the powers of the District Magistrate by virt ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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