ABDUL JABAR BUTT vs STATE OF JAMMU & KASHMIR(with connected petition)

The Supreme Court held that the phrase 'as soon as may be' in Section 8(1) of the Jammu and Kashmir Preventive Detention Act mandates that the government must communicate the grounds of detention within a reasonable time. The Court ruled that the government's failure to make the required declarations within the prescribed time invalidated the detention of the petitioners. The earlier decision in Hissam-Ud-Din Bandy and Others v. The State was overruled, establishing that such declarations must be made before the expiry of the time limit for communication of grounds.