1. In its legislative appearance, since 1989, S.32 - A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act found it difficult to overcome its vulnerability in the Courts of law and it often allowed legal battles to be fought over the subject of ascertaining its true meaning, and also about what it precisely spoke. It could not easily protect itself from being misunderstood or stoutly protect itself from being chosen as a target worth shooting at.

2. Before us, in the present proceedings, a question that has been posed is as to whether the High Court, while entertaining an appeal against the conviction under the NDPS Act has the same power available to it under S.389, CrPC to allow suspension of a sentence during the pendency of such appeal and to release the appellant / accused on bail. As a further corollary of this main issue, we have been required to record our observations as to on what occasions power of suspending sentence awarded under that Act would be available to the Appe