9. Advisory Boards.—
For the purposes of sub-clause
(a) of clause
(4) and sub-clause
(c) of
clause
(7) of article 22 of the Constitution,—
(a) the Central Government and each State Government shall, whenever necessary, constitute one
or more Advisory Boards each of which shall consist of a Chairman and two other persons possessing
the qualifications specified in sub-clause
(a) of clause
(4) of article 22 of the Constitution;
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(b) save as otherwise provided in section 10, the appropriate Government shall, within five weeks
from the date of detention of a person under a detention order, make a reference in respect thereof to
the Advisory Board constituted under clause
(a) to enable the Advisory Board to make the report
under sub-clause
(a) of clause
(4) of article 22 of the Constitution;
(c) the Advisory Board to which a reference is made under clause
(b) shall after considering the
reference and the materials placed before it and after calling for such further information as it may
deem necessary from the appropriate Government or from any person called for the purpose through
the appropriate Government or from the person concerned, and if, in any particular case, it considers
it essential so to do or if the person concerned desires to be heard in person, after hearing him in
person, prepare its report specifying in a separate paragraph thereof its opinion as to whether or not
there is sufficient cause for the detention of the person concerned and submit the same within eleven
weeks from the date of detention of the person concerned;
(d) when there is a difference of opinion among the members forming the Advisory Board, the
opinion of the majority of such members shall be deemed to be the opinion of the Board;
(e) a person against whom an order of detention has been made under this Act shall not be
entitled to appear by any legal practitioner in any matter connected with the reference to the Advisory
Board and the proceedings of the Advisory Board and its report, excepting that part of the report in
which the opinion of the Advisory Board is specified, shall be confidential;
(f) in every case where the Advisory Board has reported that there is in its opinion sufficient
cause for the detention of a person, the appropriate Government may confirm the detention order and
continue the detention of the person concerned for such period as it thinks fit and in every case where
the Advisory Board has reported that there is in its opinion no sufficient cause for the detention of the
person concerned, the appropriate Government shall revoke the detention order and cause the person
to be released forthwith.
10. Cases in which and circumstances under which persons may be detained for periods longer
than three months without obtaining the opinion of Advisory Board.—
(1) Notwithstanding anything
contained in this Act, any person (including a foreigner) in respect of whom an order of detention is made
under this Act at any time before the 1[31st day of July, 1999] may be detained without obtaining, in
accordance with the provisions of sub-clause
(a) of clause
(4) of article 22 of the Constitution, the opinion
of an Advisory Board for a period longer than three months but not exceeding six months from the date of
his detention, where the order of detention has been made against such person with a view to preventing
him from engaging in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, and the Central
Government or any officer of the Central Government, not below the rank of an Additional Secretary to
that Government, specially empowered for the purposes of this section by that Government, is satisfied
that such person engages or is likely to engage in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances into, out of, through or within any area highly vulnerable to such illicit traffic and makes a
declaration to that effect within five weeks of the detention of such person.
Explanation1.—In this sub-section, “area highly vulnerable to such illicit traffic” means—
(i) the India customs waters;
(ii) the customs airports;
(iii) the metropolitan cities of Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Madras and the city of Varanasi;
1. Subs. by Act 16 of 1996, s. 2, for “31st day of July, 1996” (w.e.f. 30-7-1990).
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(iv) the inland area one hundred kilometres in width from the coast of India falling within the
territories of the States of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa,
Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and the Union territories of Daman and Diu and Pondicherry;
(v) the inland area one hundred kilometres in width from—
(a) the India-Pakistan border in the States of Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan;
(b) the India-Nepal border in the States of Bihar, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal;
(c) the India-Burma border in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and
Nagaland;
(d) the India-Bangladesh border in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and West
Bengal;
(e) the India-Bhutan border in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim and West
Bengal;
(vi) such other area or customs station, as the Central Government may, having regard to the
vulnerability of such area or customs station, as the case may be, to illicit traffic, by notification in the
Official Gazette, specify in this behalf.
Explanation 2.—For the purposes of Explanation 1, “customs station” has the same meaning as in
clause
(13) of section 2 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962).
(2) In the case of any person detained under a detention order to which the provisions of sub-section
(1) apply, section 9 shall have effect subject to the following modifications, namely:—
(i) in clause
(b), for the words “shall, within five weeks”, the words “shall, within four months
and two weeks” shall be substituted;
(ii) in clause
(c),—
(a) for the words “the detention of the person concerned”, the words “the continued detention
of the person concerned” shall be substituted;
(b) for the words “eleven weeks”, the words “five months and three weeks” shall be
substituted;
(iii) in clause
(f), for the words “for the detention”, at both the places where they occur, the words
“for the continued detention” shall be substituted.
11. Maximum period of detention.—The maximum period for which any person may be detained in
pursuance of any detention order to which the provisions of section 10 do not apply and which has been
confirmed under clause
(f) of section 9 shall be one year from the date of detention, and the maximum
period for which any person may be detained in pursuance of any detention order to which the provisions
of section 10 apply and which has been confirmed under clause
(f) of section 9, read with sub-section
(2)
of section 10, shall be two years from the date of detention:
Provided that nothing contained in this section shall affect the power of appropriate Government in
either case to revoke or modify the detention order at any earlier time.
12. Revocation of detention orders.—
(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of section 21 of the
General Clauses Act, 1897 (10 of 1897), a detention order may, at any time, be revoked or modified—
(a) notwithstanding that the order has been made by an officer of a State Government, by that
State Government or by the Central Government;
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(b) notwithstanding that the order has been made by an officer of the Central Government or by a
State Government, by the Central Government.
(2) The revocation of a detention order shall not bar the making of another detention order under
section 3 against the same person.
13. Temporary release of persons detained.—
(1) The Central Government may, at any time, direct
that any person detained in pursuance of a detention order made by that Government or by an officer
subordinate to that Government or by a State Government or by an officer subordinate to a State
Government, may be released for any specified period either without conditions or upon such conditions
specified in the direction as that person accepts, and may, at any time, cancel his release.
(2) A State Government may, at any time, direct that any person detained in pursuance of a detention
order made by that Government or by an officer subordinate to that Government may be released for any
specified period either without conditions or upon such conditions specified in the direction as the person
accepts, and may, at any time, cancel his release.
(3) In directing the release of any person under sub-section
(1) or sub-section
(2), the Government
directing the release may require him to enter into a bond with sureties for the due observance of the
conditions specified in the direction.
(4) Any person released under sub-section
(1) or sub-section
(2) shall surrender himself at the time
and place, and to the authority, specified in the order directing his release, or cancelling his release, as the
case may be.
(5) If any person fails without sufficient cause to surrender himself in the manner specified in sub-
section
(4), he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with
fine, or with both.
(6) If any person released under sub-section
(1) or sub-section
(2) fails to fulfil any of the conditions
imposed upon him under the said sub-section or in the bond entered into by him, the bond shall be
declared to be forfeited and any person bound thereby shall be liable to pay the penalty thereof.
(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law and save as otherwise provided in this
section, no person against whom a detention order made under this Act is in force shall be released
whether on bail or bail bond or otherwise.
14. Protection of action taken in good faith.—No suit or other legal proceeding shall lie against the
Central Government or a State Government and no suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie
against any person for anything in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act.
15. [Amendment of Act 52 of 1974.] Rep. by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2001 (30 of 2001), s.2
and the First Schedule (w.e.f.3-9-2001).
16. Repeal and saving.—
(1) The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Ordinance, 1988 (Ord. 7 of 1988), is hereby repealed.
(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Ordinance shall be
deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act.
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