PENGUASA KANAN, PUSAT PEMULIHAN AKHLAK BATU GAJAH, PERAK

On the court record

A detaining authority whose matters study habeas corpus review of preventive detention under the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985, focusing on statutory timelines and the consequences of delay.

PENGUASA KANAN, PUSAT PEMULIHAN AKHLAK BATU GAJAH, PERAK (the Senior Superintendent of the Batu Gajah rehabilitation centre) appears in the corpus as a respondent in habeas corpus applications challenging preventive detention, and its appearances go to the safeguards attending detention without trial. In High Court matters framed in Bahasa Malaysia the court heard applications for a writ of habeas corpus under legislation including the Akta Dadah Berbahaya (Langkah-Langkah Pencegahan Khas) 1985 (the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985), the court identifying and disposing of the several issues raised (enam isu telah dibangkit semasa pendengaran) and, in one matter, dismissing the application.

A recurring ground of challenge was delay in the statutory process — whether there was delay by the investigating officer or the ministry officers in submitting the required report to the Minister under sections 3 and 5(4) of the Act, and whether any delay by the Deputy Home Minister in making the detention order amounted to non-compliance. In a Federal Court matter connected to the same regime, the court addressed whether there was delay by the police investigating officer in submitting the complete investigation report to the inquiry officer under section 3(3) of the Act.

For a reader, the cluster is a focused study of habeas corpus review of preventive detention: the strict statutory timelines governing the submission of reports and the making of detention orders under the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985, and the consequences of non-compliance for the lawfulness of detention. The detaining authority and ministers in their official capacity are named as they appear on the record; the individual detainees are referred to by their procedural role only. The authority's matters go to the heart of the safeguards that attend detention without trial, where the courts scrutinise compliance with strict statutory timelines as a condition of lawful detention. A delay by an investigating officer or a minister in submitting a required report or making a detention order can vitiate the detention, which is why habeas corpus review of preventive detention focuses so closely on the procedural chronology.