JASJIT SINGH BEDI, J. The prayer in the present petition under Section 439 Cr.P.C is for the grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No.03 dated 08.01.2023 under Section 18 of the NDPS Act, 1985 registered at Police Station Sadar Nabha, District Patiala.

2. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner came to be apprehended with 4.5 kgs. of opium.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. The mandatory provisions of Sections 42 and 50 of the NDPS Act had not been complied with in their proper perspective. No independent witness was joined at the time of search and seizure. As he was a first-time offender, in custody since 08.01.2023 and 1 of 6 ::2::- only 02 out of the 14 prosecution witnesses had been examined so far, the trial of the present case was not likely to be concluded anytime soon and therefore, he was entitled to the concession of bail in view of the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Nitish Adhikary @ Bapan Versus The State of West Bengal, SLP (Crl.) Nos.5769/2022 arising out of judgment and order dated 04.05.2022 in CRM(NDPS) No.442/2022, decided o