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While considering the scheme of the COFEPOSA Act, including the ambit of Section 11, it was observed:-

“19. We may now examine the scheme of the Act and have a closer look at the provisions set out above to find out whether the Act provides for a differentiation being made between detention orders made by the government and those made by specially empowered officers so as to confer an additional right of representation to detenus subjected to detention under detention orders falling in the latter category. At the outset, it needs no saying, that any government, be it Central or State, has to function only through human agencies viz. its officers and functionaries and that it cannot function by itself as an abstract body. Such being the case, even though Section 3(1) provides for an order of detention being made either by the Central Government or one of its officers or the State Government or by one of its officers, an order of detention has necessarily to be made in either of the situations only by an officer of the concerned government. It is in acceptance of this position we have to see whether an order of detention, if passed by an officer of the government specially empowered under Section 3(1) but not further empowered under Rules of Business of the government to act would have the effect of making the concerned officer the detaining authority and not the concerned government itself. The answer to the question has to be necessarily in the negative for the following reasons. It has been specifically provided in Section 2 (a) that irrespective of whether an order of detention is made by the Central Government or one of its duly authorised officers, the “appropriate government” as regard the detention order and the detenu will be the Central Government only and likewise whether an order of detention is made by a State Government or one of its duly authorised officers the “appropriate government” would be the State Government only as regards the detention order and the detenu concerned. Secondly, irrespective of whether an order of detention is made by the State Government or by one of its officers, the Writ Petition (Criminal) No.362 of 2019 Ankit Ashok Jalan vs. Union of India & Ors.