Haryana establishes advisory board to review NSA cases and ensure due process

The Haryana government has formed an advisory board, consisting of two retired judges from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to review cases registered under the stringent National Security Act (NSA). Additionally, a law officer from the office of the Advocate General (AG) of Haryana has been appointed as a member of the advisory board. The three-member advisory board has been established under Section 9 of the 1980 Act. The NSA allows the detention of a person up to 12 months without any charge, and the act also empowers the government to detain a person if it considers the individual a threat to national security.
According to the notification issued by the home department, Haryana, Justice K C Puri (Retd), former judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court, would be the chairperson of the advisory board and former HC judge, Justice Raj Rahul Garg, would be its member. The state has also included Pawan Girdhar, law officer of the AG office, Haryana, as a member of the board.
“In exercise of powers conferred under sub section (I) of section 9 of the National Security Act 1980, the governor of Haryana hereby constitutes an advisory board consisting of chairperson and members,” says the December 13 notification issued on Friday by T V S N Prasad, additional chief secretary (home) Haryana. As per the notification, other terms and conditions of the chairperson and members of the advisory board shall be issued separately.
As per the statute, the advisory board constituted under the NSA has been conferred with the crucial function of oversight mechanisms to examine the grounds on which detention order is made and the material offered by the government to justify the detention order. Under Section 10 of the NSA, the government is required to place before the advisory board within three weeks from the detention order, the grounds on which the order has been made and the representation, if any, made by the person affected by the order, and in case where the order has been made by the district magistrate or the Commissioner of Police, their report is required to be sent to the Advisory Board.
The report of the advisory board shall specify as to whether or not there is sufficient cause for the detention.
In case the board found sufficient cause for the detention of the person concerned, the government may confirm the detention order.
However, in case the board finfs that there are no sufficient reasons to detain a person, the detainee has to be released by the government immediately.