CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has suggested constitution of a monitoring committee consisting of officers from the state and central agencies to supervise the coordinated action for combating drug menace in the state.
A division bench of Justices D Krishnakumar and PB Balaji mooted the suggestion recently while hearing a case regarding amenities and safety of the residents of resettlement colonies, including Perumbakkam colony.
“We are of the view that a monitoring committee is to be headed by a chairman, one officer each from Narcotic Control Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation and two or three officers from the state shall be appointed as members,” the bench said in the interim order.
It directed the Assistant Solicitor General of the centre and the Additional Advocate General of TN government to get ininstructions from their respective governments and submit them before the court.
Saying that drug menace is a serious concern of the society, the bench said that the time has come for initiating stringent action to put down the sale of narcotics ‘with an iron hand’.
The court recorded a report filed by Additional Advocate General J Ravindran enlisting the action taken for effectively combating the drug menace. He said an Enforcement Bureau-CID called high-level special wing has been constituted at the headquarters of the state police for strict enforcement of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act headed by an Additional DGP.
As many as 1,727 cases were registered under NDPS Act in 2023 and 2,262 accused were arrested, apart from seizure of 723 kg of ganja, 40,464 numbers of ganja chocolates and 93.61 kg of other drugs.
Up to September this year, 675 cases have been booked against 902 people in connection with seizure of 2,720 kg ganja, 3,458 ganja chocolates and 7.319 kg of other drugs, the report said.
The court directed the state government to ensure no shops other than eateries and stationeries are located within 100 meters of educational institutions.