Srinagar, March 28 -- "Preventive detention laws in India are extraordinary statutes, granting significant power to the State. Such laws can easily lead to arbitrary exercise of authority by the Government," said a Division Bench of Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal.

The Bench said that there is no doubt that the Courts cannot, on a review of the grounds, substitute its own opinion for that of the detaining authority, and cannot act as a court of appeal, it is solely the domain of the detaining authority to reach to a subjective satisfaction.

"However, this does not mean that the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority is wholly immune from judicial reviewability," the Bench said, adding, "The cou...