16 October 2021

To

Shri Kiren Rijiju,

Hon. Minister of Law and Justice,

Government of India

Dear Shri Rijiju,

We are a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services who have worked with the Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. As a group, we have no affiliation with any political party but believe in impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Constitution of India.

You would be aware that Art. 22(4) of the Constitution of India was amended by the Constitution (Forty Fourth Amendment) Act, 1978. S. 3 of this amendment Act provides that the Advisory Board, to be constituted for examining the justification for preventive detention under this Article, is to be appointed in accordance with the recommendation of the Chief Justice of the High Court; it is to be headed by a sitting judge of that High Court and have at least two serving/former judges of any High Court as members of the Board. The said S. 3 also deleted Art 22(7)(a) of the Constitution, thereby deleting the provision authorizing preventive detention without obtaining the opinion of an Advisory Board.

These amendments were meant to curtail the arbitrary power of governments to appoint on the Advisory Board any person qualified to be a judge of a High Court, and to ensure that no preventive detentions could be made, or continued, without obtaining the opinion of the Advisory Board within 2 months of the detention. These provisions have yet to come into force since a notification to give effect to S. 3 of the 44^th Constitutional Amendment has not been issued.

At present, any advocate who is qualified to be a judge of a High Court, can be appointed to the Advisory Board. In effect, any advocate with ten years or more of practice can sit on an Advisory Board. This provision is, thus, vulnerable to abuse by governments which, instead of appointing neutral, independent members to the Board, may appoint persons of their choice, including those owing allegiance to the political party in power.

A look at the Objects and Reasons of the Constitution (Forty Fourth Amendment) Act, 1978 explains why Parliament, soon after the experience of the Emergency of 1975-77, considered it necessary to check arbitrary preventive detentions. Para 1 of the Objects and Reasons is cited below:

“Recent experience has shown that the fundamental rights, including
those of life and liberty, granted to citizens by the Constitution are
capable of being taken away by a transient majority. It is,
therefore, necessary to provide adequate safeguards against the
recurrence of such a contingency in the future and to ensure to the
people themselves an effective voice in determining the form of
government under which they are to live. This is one of the primary
objects of this Bill.”

Successive Union Governments have, however, failed to notify any date for the coming into force of this Constitutional Amendment that was passed by Parliament as far back as 1978. It is not open to the Government of India to sit in judgment over the wisdom of Parliament, which was convinced of the necessity of amending Clause (4)(a) and deleting Clause (7)(a) of Article 22 through the Constitution (Forty Fourth Amendment) Act, 1978.

The provision empowering the Government of India to notify the dates for the coming into force of different provisions of the Constitution (Forty Fourth Amendment) Act was intended to give the government some flexibility in this regard. It will be a travesty if this provision is conveniently used by the government to negate the legislative intent by refusing to notify the date of coming into effect of the Constitution (Forty Fourth Amendment) Act. The unconscionable delay of 43 years in the issue of this notification has resulted in a brazen abuse of preventive detention laws in gross violation of human rights and a progressive erosion of our cherished democratic values.

We, therefore, urge the Government of India to forthwith notify a date for the coming into force of S. 3 of the Constitution (Forty Fourth Amendment) Act, 1978.

SATYAMEVA JAYATE

Yours sincerely,

Constitutional Conduct Group

(100 signatories, as below)

	Salahuddin Ahmad	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
	S.P. Ambrose	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI
	Anand Arni	RAS (Retd.)	Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
	M.D. Asthana	IAS (Retd.)	Former Principal Adviser, Planning Commission, GoI
	G. Balachandhran	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
	Vappala Balachandran	IPS (Retd.)	Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
	Gopalan Balagopal	IAS (Retd.)	Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
	Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Coal, GoI
	Rana Banerji	RAS (Retd.)	Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
	T.K. Banerji	IAS (Retd.)	Former Member, Union Public Service Commission
	Sharad Behar	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
	Aurobindo Behera	IAS (Retd.)	Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
	Madhu Bhaduri	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to Portugal
	Pradip Bhattacharya	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal
	Meeran C Borwankar	IPS (Retd.)	Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI
	Ravi Budhiraja	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI
	Sundar Burra	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
	R. Chandramohan	IAS (Retd.)	Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
	Rachel Chatterjee	IAS (Retd.)	Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
	Kalyani Chaudhuri	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
	Gurjit Singh Cheema	IAS (Retd.)	Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab
	F.T.R. Colaso	IPS (Retd.)	Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir
	Anna Dani	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
	Vibha Puri Das	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI
	P.R. Dasgupta	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI
	Pradeep K. Deb	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI
	Nitin Desai		Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI
	M.G. Devasahayam	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana
	Sushil Dubey	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to Sweden
	A.S. Dulat	IPS (Retd.)	Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI
	K.P. Fabian	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to Italy
	Prabhu Ghate	IAS (Retd.)	Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI
	Gourisankar Ghosh	IAS (Retd.)	Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water Mission, GoI
	Suresh K. Goel	IFS (Retd.)	Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI
	S.K. Guha	IAS (Retd.)	Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI
	Meena Gupta	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI
	Ravi Vira Gupta	IAS (Retd.)	Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
	Wajahat Habibullah	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner
	Sajjad Hassan	IAS (Retd.)	Former Commissioner (Planning), Govt. of Manipur
	Siraj Hussain	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI
	Kamal Jaswal	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI
	Vinod C. Khanna	IFS (Retd.)	Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI
	Dhirendra Krishna	IA&AS (Retd.)	Former Financial Controller, Irrigation Department, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
	Brijesh Kumar	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI
	Ish Kumar	IPS (Retd.)	Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission
	Sudhir Kumar	IAS (Retd.)	Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
	Subodh Lal	IPoS (Resigned)	Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI
	B.B. Mahajan	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Deptt. of Food, GoI
	P.M.S. Malik	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoI
	Harsh Mander	IAS (Retd.)	Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
	Aditi Mehta	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
	Sonalini Mirchandani	IFS (Resigned)	GoI
	Sunil Mitra	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI
	Avinash Mohananey	IPS (Retd.)	Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim
	Satya Narayan Mohanty	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
	Jugal Mohapatra	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoI
	Deb Mukharji	IFS (Retd.)	Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
	Gautam Mukhopadhaya	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to Myanmar
	T.K.A. Nair	IAS (Retd.)	Former Adviser to Prime Minister of India
	Surendra Nath	IAS (Retd.)	Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
	P. Joy Oommen	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh
	Amitabha Pande	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
	P. R. Parthasarathy	IPS (Retd.)	Former Director, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Govt. of Maharashtra
	Maxwell Pereira	IPS (Retd.)	Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi
	Alok Perti	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI
	G.K. Pillai	IAS (Retd.)	Former Home Secretary, GoI
	Rajesh Prasad	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to the Netherlands
	Sharda Prasad	IAS (Retd.)	Former Director General (Employment and Training), Ministry of Labour and Employment, GoI
	Rajdeep Puri	IRS (Resigned)	Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
	N.K. Raghupathy	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI
	V.P. Raja	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission
	C. Babu Rajeev	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, GoI
	K. Sujatha Rao	IAS (Retd.)	Former Health Secretary, GoI
	Vijaya Latha Reddy	IFS (Retd.)	Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI
	Julio Ribeiro	IPS (Retd.)	Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania
	Aruna Roy	IAS (Resigned)
	Manabendra N. Roy	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
	A.K. Samanta	IPS (Retd.)	Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal
	Deepak Sanan	IAS (Retd.)	Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
	G. Sankaran	IC&CES (Retd.)	Former President, Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal
	Shyam Saran	IFS (Retd.)	Former Foreign Secretary and Former Chairman, National Security Advisory Board
	S. Satyabhama	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI
	N.C. Saxena	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI
	Ardhendu Sen	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
	Abhijit Sengupta	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI
	Aftab Seth	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to Japan
	Ashok Kumar Sharma	IFoS (Retd.)	Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat
	Ashok Kumar Sharma	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia
	Navrekha Sharma	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to Indonesia
	Pravesh Sharma	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
	Raju Sharma	IAS (Retd.)	Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
	Rashmi Shukla Sharma	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
	Sujatha Singh	IFS (Retd.)	Former Foreign Secretary, GoI
	Tara Ajai Singh	IAS (Retd.)	Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
	Tirlochan Singh	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI
	Narendra Sisodia	IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI
	Anup Thakur	IAS (Retd.)	Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
	Hindal Tyabji	IAS (Retd.)	Former Chief Secretary rank, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir
	Ramani Venkatesan	IAS (Retd.)	Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra
	Rudi Warjri	IFS (Retd.)	Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica