No coordination even after explicit directives of LG
SC, HC judgments remain unimplemented in J&K UT
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 8: Notwithstanding the repeated instructions of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha about fighting the menace of drugs in a coordinated manner, the Home and Finance Departments are sleeping over the proposal regarding establishment of Special Courts to ensure speedy disposal of cases being registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPSA).
In view of the provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and explicit directives of the Supreme Court as well as High Court, the J&K Government in the month of November last year set into motion an exercise for establishment of three Special Courts to exclusively deal with NDPSA cases, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
In the proposal submitted to the Home and Finance Departments, the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs suggested setting up of one Special Court at Jammu and Srinagar and third one at Anantnag as these three districts are continuously witnessing alarming rise in the drugs trafficking cases, sources informed.
Earlier, the Law Department had suggested that four courts of Additional District Judges, which were established in the recent past, can be conferred the powers to deal with NDPSA cases. However, the suggestion was turned down by the High Court.
During the past over four months, neither the Finance nor the Home Department has conveyed anything to the Law Department about the setting up of the Special Courts although the matter was taken up with them a number of times so as to ensure implementation of provisions of the Act and directives of the Apex Court and High Court, sources said.
The lack of coordination is notwithstanding the fact that Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha while addressing Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan Awards ceremony at SKICC Srinagar on November 12, 2021 had laid thrust on collectively fighting the menace by all the Government agencies. He had observed that drug abuse has emerged as one of the most serious social problems tearing apart social fabric and posing a threat to mankind.
Similarly, while laying foundation stone for Drug De-addiction Centre at Jammu on February 13, 2022, the Lieutenant Governor had stated: “We are witnessing worrisome trend of substance abuse. Our aim is to wean away youngsters from addiction and bring them into the mainstream of the society as such all stakeholders—educational institutions, Government agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) should work as a team”.
EXCELSIOR made several attempts to ascertain the reasons behind the inordinate delay in clearance of proposal for the Special Courts but there was no response from the officers of the Home and Finance Departments. “How the Government departments can be so casual towards the problem which if not curbed without any further delay will take the shape of huge monster”, sources said.
The Section 36 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 states: “The Government may, for the purpose of providing speedy trial of the offences under this Act, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute as many Special Courts as may be necessary for such area or areas as may be specified in the notification”.
Similarly, Section 36(A) of the Act read: “Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, all offences under this Act which are punishable with imprisonment for a term of more than three years shall be triable only by the Special Court constituted for the area in which the offence has been committed or where there are more Special Courts than one for such area, by such one of them as may be specified in this behalf by the Government”.
The Supreme Court of India vide order dated January 23, 2013 in a case titled “Thana Singh Versus Central Bureau of Narcotics” had directed all the States and Union Territories including Jammu and Kashmir where the pendency of cases was more than five years to establish Special Courts to deal with NDPSA cases. Even J&K High Court has a number of times expressed anguish over non-constitution of Special NDPS Courts in J&K.
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