UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — District Magistrate moves SC against Allahabad HC order

Q1. Under the National Security Act, 1980, the 'Advisory Board' before which a detention order must be placed is constituted in which one of the following ways?

  • A. A Board of retired civil servants of the rank of Secretary to Government, chaired by a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court nominated for the purpose
  • B. A Board of persons who are, or have been, or are qualified to be appointed as, Judges of a High Court, chaired by a member who is or has been a High Court Judge
  • C. A Board of serving District and Sessions Judges of the State, chaired by a member nominated by the State Government from among them
  • D. A Board headed by the Chief Secretary of the State, with two members drawn from the State Human Rights Commission

Q2. Under the National Security Act, 1980, within what maximum period from the date of detention must the appropriate Government place the grounds of detention, and any representation received, before the Advisory Board?

  • A. Five days
  • B. Three weeks
  • C. Seven weeks
  • D. Three months

Q3. Which one of the following statements about the constitutional basis of preventive detention in India is correct?

  • A. Article 22(4) bars a preventive detention law from authorising detention beyond three months unless an Advisory Board reports that there is sufficient cause for such detention
  • B. Article 22(2) requires every person detained, whether punitively or preventively, to be produced before the nearest magistrate within twenty-four hours of detention
  • C. Article 22(1) guarantees every detenu, including one held under preventive detention, an absolute right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice
  • D. Article 21 permits recourse to preventive detention exclusively during the operation of a Proclamation of Emergency issued by the President

Q4. Among the writs issuable under Articles 32 and 226, which one is the principal remedy against an allegedly unlawful preventive detention, and what does it command?

  • A. Certiorari, which transfers the record of the detention proceedings to the superior court, whose order operates only prospectively from the date of such transfer
  • B. Quo warranto, which requires the detaining authority to show the statutory authority under which it continues to hold the person concerned
  • C. Habeas corpus, which requires the detained person to be brought before the court so that the legality of the detention can be examined
  • D. Mandamus, which directs the detaining authority to place the grounds of detention before the Advisory Board within the statutory period

Q5. In the law of preventive detention, the expression 'subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority' is best understood as which one of the following?

  • A. The detaining authority's own assessment of the material before it, which a court will not re-appreciate on merits but may examine for the existence of relevant material
  • B. The detaining authority's own assessment, which becomes final and immune from judicial scrutiny once the Advisory Board has reported sufficient cause for the detention
  • C. The satisfaction of the State Government, which must independently record reasons on the material before any district-level officer can issue a detention order
  • D. The satisfaction of the Advisory Board, which substitutes its own opinion for that of the detaining authority while examining the grounds of detention

Q6. In the Allahabad High Court's September 2026 decision in the Noida NSA matter, the relief of 'quashing the detention order' carried which one of the following consequences?

  • A. The detention order was annulled as legally unsustainable, and release was directed unless the detenu's custody was warranted in some other case
  • B. The detention order was suspended pending fresh consideration by the State Government, with the detenu released on conditions imposed by the court
  • C. The detention order was sustained, but its operation was curtailed to the period already undergone, with release on the detenu furnishing sureties
  • D. The detention order was remitted to the Advisory Board for a fresh opinion, the detenu continuing in custody until that opinion was rendered

Q7. In the Noida NSA matter decided by the Allahabad High Court in September 2026, the detention order that the Court found unsustainable had been passed by which authority?

  • A. The Principal Secretary (Home), Government of Uttar Pradesh, as the appropriate Government
  • B. The Station House Officer of the police station in whose jurisdiction the protest occurred
  • C. The Commissioner of Police, Gautam Buddh Nagar, for the commissionerate area
  • D. The District Magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar, for the district

Q8. Disciplinary proceedings against a member of the Indian Administrative Service are conducted under the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969. Which one of the following statements about the handling of such proceedings is correct?

  • A. The Ministry of Home Affairs is the nodal authority for these Rules, and the State Government alone remains competent to impose any penalty on an IAS officer serving in that State
  • B. The Central Vigilance Commission is the nodal authority for these Rules, and every disciplinary proceeding against an IAS officer must invariably be routed through it before a penalty is imposed
  • C. The Department of Personnel and Training is the nodal authority for these Rules, and the Central Government is competent where a major penalty is proposed after inquiry by a State Government
  • D. The Union Public Service Commission is the nodal authority for these Rules, and its recommendation on the penalty is binding on the Central and the State Governments in all cases

Q9. Under Section 3 of the National Security Act, 1980, an order by which a State Government empowers a District Magistrate to make detention orders is best described as which one of the following?

  • A. An enabling order whose specified period cannot, in the first instance, exceed three months
  • B. A one-time authorisation exhausted by a single detention order, requiring fresh approval for each later detention
  • C. An enabling order that runs for twelve months and lapses when the detention it supports is confirmed
  • D. A standing authorisation valid for the officer's entire tenure in the district, revocable only by the Central Government