MADURAI: Taking note of the difficulties faced by the investigating agencies in effectively following up on the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases due to the lack of special courts, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently suggested the formation of more special courts for handling NDPS Act cases in the ratio that there is at least one special court for every four districts.
“Possibility of designating the additional district courts in the districts as special courts to deal with cases pertaining to Essential Commodities (EC) or NDPS Acts may also be explored,” Justice B Pugalendhi said. He made the suggestions on a batch of bail petitions by a few persons, who were arrested for allegedly possessing commercial quantities of ganja.
The judge observed that the lawmakers introduced specific provisions such as Sections 37 (offences to be cognizable and non-bailable) and 36(A) (offences triable by special courts) of the NDPS Act by considering the seriousness of narcotic offences. “But the very object of those provisions is defeated by some police officials or public prosecutors who allow the accused to get statutory bail, in cases of commercial quantity, by not filing the final report on time and not filing a report under Section 36(A)(4) of the NDPS Act seeking extension of time for filing the final report,” the judge said.
He also referred to a reply submitted by the Registrar (Judicial) of the Madurai Bench identifying certain delays, especially in sending and receiving drug samples from laboratories and in producing those samples and reports before the special courts. The judge noted that the location of the special courts and the distance cause inconvenience to the investigating officers.
As of now, there are three special courts for NDPS Act cases, for the districts falling under the Bench’s jurisdiction, he pointed out.If special courts are created for every four districts (or covering a 100 km radius), the distance between the police station and the special courts would be reduced, he opined.