The main legal point established in the judgment is the necessity of compliance with statutory provisions, particularly section 42 of the N.D.P.S. Act, and the consequences of non-compliance in the context of the Act.

JUDGMENT

S.K. Sahoo, J. - The appellants Rajesh K.R. and Jobby Sonny in CRLA No.602 of 2014 and appellant George K.A. in CRLA No.667 of 2014 faced trial in the Court of learned Special Judge, Gajapati, Parlakhemundi in G.R. Case No.215 of 2011 for offence punishable under section 20(b)(ii)(C) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereafter "N.D.P.S. Act") on the accusation that on 23.06.2011 at about 4.00 p.m., they were found transporting ganja in a private vehicle bearing registration no.KL-07-AA-2097 in front of Parlakhemundi police station in thirty nine big packets and thirty two small packets consisting of 116 kgs. of ganja without any licence.

The learned trial Court vide impugned judgment and order dated 19.09.2014 found the appellants guilty under section 20(b)(ii)(C) of the N.D.P.S. Act and sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of twelve years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,00,000/- (rupees one lakh) each, in default, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for period of one year each.

Since both the appeals arise out of one common judgment, with the consent of learned counsel for both the parties, those were heard analogously and are disposed of by this common judgment.

2. The prosecution case, as per the first information report (Ext.16), in short, is that the informant Pradyumna Kishore Behera (P.W.4), S.I. of Police, Parlakhemundi police station on the basis of command certificate no.364743 dated 23.06.2011 along with Dibya Lochan Behera (P.W.8), S.I. of Police and other police officials of Parlakhemundi police station left the police station to verify the information regarding the transportation of ganja in a private vehicle bearing registration no.KL-07-AA-2097 as recorded vide S.D.E. No.513 dated 23.06.2011 and at about 4.00 p.m., they detained the said vehicle in front of Parlakhemundi police station and found two persons sitting in the middle seat and one was in the driver"s seat of the vehicle and smell of ganja was coming out of the vehicle. On being asked, the driver of the vehicle disclosed his name and address as Rajesh K.R. (appellant in CRLA No.602 of 2014) and his address and the two persons, who were sitting in the middle seat of the vehicle disclosed their names as Jobby Sonny (appellant in CRLA No.602 of 2014) and George K.A. (appellant in CRLA No.667 of 2014). The informant (P.W.4) came to believe from the strong smell of contraband ganja coming out of the vehicle that the appellants were in possession of contraband ganja and accordingly, he intimated the fact to the Inspector in-charge of Parlakhemundi police station over phone. He arranged two local independent witnesses i.e. P.W.6 and P.W.7, out of which P.W.7 was the weighman, who had a grocery shop at Khanja Sahi and he arrived at the spot along with his weighing machine. P.W.4 explained the three appellants that they have the right to be searched either before a Magistrate or a Gazetted Officer and when the appellants gave their choice to be searched before one Gazetted Officer in writing, P.W.4 contacted Gopinath Manipatra (P.W.9), D.S.P., D.I.B., Gajapati over phone with a request to remain present during search and seizure. P.W.9 arrived at the spot at 4.15 p.m. and he gave his identity to the appellants and then in presence of P.W.9, the personal search of the police team was taken but nothing incriminating was found except the wearing apparels and pen and when the vehicle was thoroughly searched, it was found that on the concealed roof of the vehicle, thirty nine big packets and thirty two small packets were found from it. Those packets were made into four lots and the polythene paper and synthetic thread from all the packets were removed and it was found to be the flowering and fruiting tops of the cannabis plant locally known as "ganja" and on weighment of the four lots, the total quantity came to 116 kgs. After the ganja was mixed homogenously, 50 grams of sample ganja in two packets fro