Judgment

Shah, J.—Leave granted.

2. Limited question involved in this appeal is whether the restric­tions imposed under Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) would be applicable in a case where offence is punishable under Section 20(b)(i) for possessing Ganja?

3. It is the prosecution version that acting on intelligence report a batch of Narcotic Control Bureau officers searched the premises of respondent No. 1, Shambhu Sonkar, at G.T. Road, P.S. Golabari, Dis­trict Howrah on 22.11.1999 and recovered 18.7 kgs. of Ganja and a sum of Rs. 4,370/-. On the same date a confessional statement of the respondent was also recorded. The respondent filed a bail application before the Additional District Judge, Howrah, which was rejected by order 2nd February, 2000. Thereafter, the respondent ­approached the High Court of Calcutta and the High Court by its order dated 7th March, 2000 allowed the said bail application by holding that restric­tions imposed by Section 37 of the N.D.P.S. Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as ‘NDPS Act’) would not be applicable as the maximum imprisonment provided for the offence under Section 2