S.1 Short title, extent and commencement.
(1) This Act may be called the Conservation of Foreign
Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974.
(2) It extends to the whole of India.
(3) It shall come into force on such date1
(being a date not later than the twentieth day of December,
1974), as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--
(a) "appropriate Government" means, as respects a detention order made by the Central
Government or by an officer of the Central Government or a person detained under such order, the
Central Government, and as respects a detention order made by a State Government or by an officer
of a State Government or a person detained under such order, the State Government;
(b) "detention order" means an order made under section 3;
(c) "foreigner" has the same meaning as in the Foreigners Act, 1946 (31 of 1946);
(d) "Indian customs waters" has the same meaning as in clause (28) of section 2 of the Customs
Act, 1962;
(e) "smuggling" has the same meaning as in clause (39) of section 2 of the Customs Act, 1962
(52 of 1962), and all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions shall be construed
accordingly;
(f) "State Government", in relation to a Union territory, means the administrator thereof;
(g) any reference in this Act to a law which is not in force in the State of Jammu and Kashmir
shall, in relation to that State, be construed as a reference to the corresponding law, if any, in force in
that State.
S.3 Power to make orders detaining certain persons.
(1) The Central Government or the State
Government or any officer of the Central Government, not below the rank of a Joint Secretary to that Government, specially empowered for the purposes of this section by that Government, or any officer of a
State Government, not below the rank of a Secretary to that Government, specially empowered for the
purposes of this section by that Government, may, if satisfied, with respect to any person (including a
foreigner), that, with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the conservation
or augmentation of foreign exchange or with a view to preventing him from--
(i) smuggling goods, or
(ii) abetting the smuggling of goods, or
(iii) engaging in transporting or concealing or keeping smuggled goods, or
(iv) dealing in smuggled goods otherwise than by engaging in transporting or concealing or
keeping smuggled goods, or
(v) harbouring persons engaged in smuggling goods or in abetting the smuggling of goods,
it is necessary so to do, make an order directing that such person be detained.
1[Provided that no order of detention shall be made on any of the grounds specified in this sub-section
on which an order of detention may be made under section 3 of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 or under section 3 of the Jammu and Kashmir
Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Ordinance, 1988 (J & K
Ordinance 1 of 1988).]
(2) When any order of detention is made by a State Government or by an officer empowered by a
State Government, the State Government shall, within ten days, forward to the Central Government a
report in respect of the order.
(3) For the purposes of clause (5) of article 22 of the Constitution, the communication to a person
detained in pursuance of a detention order of the grounds on which the order has been made shall be made
as soon as may be after the detention, but ordinarily not later than five days, and in exceptional
circumstances and for reasons to be recorded in writing, not later than fifteen days, from the date of
detention.
S.4 Execution of detention orders.
A detention order may be executed at any place in India in the
manner provided for the execution of warrants of arrest under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
(2 of 1974).
S.5 Power to regulate place and conditions of detention.
Every person in respect of whom a
detention order has been made shall be liable--
(a) to be detained in such place and under such conditions including conditions as to
maintenance, interviews or communication with others, discipline and punishment for breaches of
discipline, as the appropriate Government may, by general or special order, specify; and
(b) to be removed from one place of detention to another place of detention, whether within the
same State or in another State by order of the appropriate Government:
Provided that no order shall be made by a State Government under clause (b) for the removal of a
person from one State to another State except with the consent of the Government of that other State.
S.5A Grounds of detention severable.
1[5A. Grounds of detention severable.--Where a person has been detained in pursuance of an order
of detention under sub-section (1) of section 3 which has been made on two or more grounds, such order
of detention shall be deemed to have been made separately on each of such grounds and accordingly--
(a) such order shall not be deemed to be invalid or inoperative merely because one or some of the
grounds is or are--
(i) vague,
(ii) non-existent,
(iii) not relevant,
(iv) not connected or not proximately connected with such person, or
(v) invalid for any other reason whatsoever,
and it is not, therefore, possible to hold that the Government or officer making such order would have
been satisfied as provided in sub-section (1) of section 3 with reference to the remaining ground or
grounds and made the order of detention;
(b) the Government or officer making the order of detention shall be deemed to have made the
order of detention under the said sub-section (1) after being satisfied as provided in that sub-section
with reference to the remaining ground or grounds.]
S.6 Detention orders not to be invalid or inoperative on certain grounds.
No detention order shall
be invalid or inoperative merely by reason--
(a) that the person to be detained thereunder is outside the limits of the territorial jurisdiction of
the Government or the officer making the order of detention, or
(b) that the place of detention of such person is outside the said limits.
