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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI
SURESH KUMAR KAIT, J.
Rohit – Appellant
Versus
Central Bureau of Narcotics – Respondents
Crl.M.C. No. 1799 of 2020 & Crl.M.A. No. 12621 of 2020
Decided on : 11-12-2020
For the Appellant :Rajiv Mohan, Abhimanyu Kampani, Swapnil Krishna, Nishant Madan, Advocates
For the Respondent:Satish Aggarwala, Sr. SPP, Gagan Vaswani, Advocate.
The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for empowered officers to follow statutory guidelines for the disposal of seized drugs under the NDPS Act.
Headnote:
NDPS Act - Seizure - Section 8/21/22/28/29/30 - The court discussed the provisions of Section 52A of the NDPS Act and the relevant notifications issued by the Ministry of Finance. It highlighted the requirements for disposal of seized drugs and the empowered officers for such disposal.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner was found in possession of unlabelled Buprenorphine Injections and other narcotics. The petitioner challenged the order for disposal of seized drugs, arguing that the officer who filed the application for disposal was not empowered under the NDPS Act.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the officer who filed the application for disposal was not empowered under the NDPS Act, and the procedure followed did not conform to the statutory guidelines.
Issues: Violation of statutory guidelines for disposal of seized drugs under the NDPS Act.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the orders for disposal of seized drugs were bad in law and set them aside.
Final Decision: The petition was allowed, and the orders for disposal of seized drugs were set aside.
JUDGMENT :
1. Vide the present petition, petitioner has filed present petition under section 482 Cr.P.C. and prays as under:
a. set aside of impugned order dated 09.07.2020 passed by learned MM (New Delhi), Patiala House Courts, Delhi in the case F.No.P&I/DDEL/SEIZURE/01/2020 for the offences punishable under section 8/21/22/28/29/30 of NDPS Act;
b. stay the operation of order dated 09.07.2020 or any proceedings emanating therefrom till disposal of the present petition.
2. The facts leading to the filing of this petition are as follows:
a. A specific information was received jointly by Sh.D.S. Singh Superintendent (Prev.) and Sh.Praveen Dhull, Inspector, Preventive Cell, Central Bureau of Narcotics on 14.01.2020 at 10:00 hrs. that M/s Moksh Meditech, Basement Floor, CW-252, Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, New Delhi is about to deliver unlabelled Buprenorphine Injections and different type of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substance who used to sell these medicines.
b. The informer stressed that huge quantity of illegal medicines containing NDPS and unlabelled Buprenorphine can be recovered on search of primes. The said information was recorded in CBN-1 and intimated to Asstt. Narcotics Commissioner, Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior. Accordingly, Sh.Praveen Dhull, Inspector was directed by the said D.S.Singh, Superintendent (Prev.) to constitute a preventive party and take necessary action immediately. The team of CBN officers was constituted and reached at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar by a Government vehicle No.HR 26 BN 2410 around 14:00 hrs. on 14.01.2020.
c. On reaching at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Sh.Praveen called two public persons who were passing through and introduced himself and other team members had apprised them about the secret information received regarding illegal purchase and sale of NDPS medicines by a shop namely M/s Moksh Meditech and requested them to be present as independent witness during the search and other legal proceedings. Both of them gave oral consent and thereafter, the Preventive Team along with the independent witnesses reached at M/s Moksh Meditech, Basement. The proprietor of the same namely Rohit (petitioner herein) was found present. Praveen, Inspector informed the petitioner about the information received by the department and informed that the search is to be made accordingly. Also informed the petitioner that he has the right under section 50 of NDPS, that he may be searched before the Competent Gazetted Officer or Magistrate nearest available. Before the search proceedings, the above team members tendered their personal search to the petitioner in the presence of independent witnesses. During the search, nothing incriminating was found from the officials. Therefore, that team along with the independent witnesses entered the shop, Sh. Praveen Dhull asked the petitioner to produce the document of the shop, accordingly, the petitioner produced Drug License in FORM-20B, DL-BAD-125546, Form 21-B DL-BAD-125547, GST registration No.GSTIN07BUJPK-5342, 1z8, some purchase bills and other documents.
d. In the presence of the petitioner, two independent witnesses, the search of M/s. Moksh Meditech was conducted as per law. During search, NDPS medicines were recovered from the shop, the detailed list of recovered NDPS medicines were prepared. Further, during search, a carton was found by the side of the chair on which petitioner was seating and on opening the same, several small boxes were found placed therein. These small boxes were found to contain the unlabelled ampoules, it was seen that the recovered ampoules contain water like transparent liquid, these 10-15 ampoules were found kept in small plastic zipper polythene, such 2-3 polythenes were kept inside each small box, there were 27 small boxed kept inside the room. Bupine injection was written in the box with declaration as Buprenorphine, manufactured by Ms. Radiant Parenterals Ltd. on counting, all 27 boxes contained a total of 704 unlabelled
