Delhi HC to hear plea on Shah Faesal's detention on Sep 3, no formal notice issued

The Delhi High Court on Friday declined to issue a formal notice on the plea of former IAS officer Shah Faesal, who has alleged that he was illegally detained at the Delhi airport on August 14 and taken back to Srinagar, where he has been kept under house arrest, saying the Centre had already said it would file a reply.

A bench of justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal told Faesal's counsel that since the Centre had said it would file its response to the habeas corpus petition, there was no need to issue a formal notice.

The court asked both sides to file their submissions before the next date of hearing on September 3.

It also declined to give an earlier date, saying the matter would take time and "it is not going to happen overnight".

"A week or 10 days will not matter," the bench said and also made it clear that it was not going to examine the issue of Faesal's travel to the US for studies as it was not a prayer sought in the habeas corpus plea moved on his behalf.

The bench listed the matter on September 3 as Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta was not available since he was appearing in another matter in the Supreme Court.

During the brief hearing, Faesal's lawyers sought that his son and parents be allowed to meet him.

The bench said Faesal's wife, son and parents could meet him, but not all of them together.

The Centre said it would ensure that the family could meet Faesal.

The habeas corpus plea, moved on Faesal's behalf through a "pariorkar" or next of friend -- Mohd Hussain Cader -- said the former IAS officer was on his way to the Harvard University in the US for higher studies when he was illegally detained at the Delhi airport under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

A habeas corpus plea requires a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or a court.

The plea alleged that the manner in which Faesal was "whisked away" to Kashmir without even a transit remand amounted to "abduction".

The petition said he was scheduled to travel to Boston in the US via Istanbul and Frankfurt when he was detained at the Delhi airport.

It said he was travelling to the US to complete his course in Masters in Public Administration when he was "illegally picked up" from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The former bureaucrat from Jammu and Kashmir floated a political outfit -- Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement party -- after resigning from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

In the aftermath of the Centre removing Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 of the Constitution, Faesal had said the state was experiencing an "unprecedented" lockdown and its eight million population were "incarcerated" like never before.