Constitution of India, Arts. 14, 21 and 22 - Entry 9 and entry 10 in Union list of Seventh Schedule to Constitution - Preventive Detention Act 1950 (Act V of 1950), s. 3(1)(b) - Whether ultra vires Constitution - Foreigners Act 1946 (Act XXXI of 1946), s. 3(2)(c) - Whether ultra vires ,Constitution -Extradition Act 1870 and Foreigners Act, 1946 - Distinction between. 

The petitioner, a West German subject, was placed under preventive detention by an order of the West Bengal Government under s. 3(1)(b) of the Preventive Detention Act 1950 on the ground that he was a foreigner within the meaning of the Foreigners Act 1946 and that it had become necessary to make arrangements for his expulsion from India and therefore he was required to be detained until the issue of an appropriate order from the Central Government.

The questions for determination in the case were :-

(i) whether s. 3(1)(b) of the Preventive Detention Act was ultra vires the Constitution inasmuch as it contravenes Arts. 14, 21 and 22 of the Constitution and whether it was beyond the legislative competence of Parliament to enact such a law;

(ii) whether, in any event, the detention was invalid as it was made in bad faith.