RAJESH BHARDWAJ, J. (ORAL)

1. Present petition has been filed praying for the grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No.200, dated 08.11.2019, under Section 22 of NDPS Act (Sections 61, 85 of NDPS Act added later on), registered at Police Station Boha, District Mansa.

2. Succinctly, the facts of the case are that the police party was on patrolling on 08.11.2019 and when they reached near Achanak Chowk, they saw one clean shaven person coming on foot, who has holding a black coloured plastic bag in his left hand. He, on seeing the police party got perplexed and threw the polythene bag, which he was holding in his hand, and turned back towards the village Achanak. However, on suspicion, he was apprehended by the police party. On asking, he disclosed his name to be Harbans Singh @ Gullu (petitioner). He was suspected to be carrying some contraband in the polythene bag being thrown by him and thus, search of the same was conducted. On conducting the search of the polythene bag, 23 strips, each containing 10/10 tablets, thus, in total 230 intoxicating tablets containing Clovidol were recovered from the same. He failed to produce any licence regarding the conscious possession of the same, thus, the FIR was registered and he was arrested on the spot. The samples taken were sent to the FSL. On receipt of the FSL report, the contraband recovered was found to be 94.19 grams of Tramadol Hydrochloride. On registration of the FIR, the investigation commenced. The petitioner was earlier granted the concession of regular bail by the learned trial Court vide order dated 20.12.2019. As he failed to appear before the learned trial Court, his bail was cancelled and thereafter, he has been arrested on 08.01.2024. The petitioner again approached the Court of learned Judge, Special Court, Mansa praying for the grant of regular bail. However, after hearing both the sides and finding no merit in the same, the learned Judge, Special Court, Mansa declined the bail application filed by the petitioner vide order dated 08.05.2026. Hence being aggrieved, the petitioner is before this Court praying for the grant of regular bail by way of filing the present petition.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. He has submitted that 230 tablets of Clovidol weighing 94.19 grams of Tramadol Hydrochloride were allegedly recovered from the petitioner, which is a non commercial quantity and thus, the provisions of Section 37 of NDPS Act are not attracted. He has submitted that the petitioner was earlier granted the concession of regular bail by the learned trial Court, however, as he failed to appear before the learned trial Court after having been granted the bail, thus, his bail was cancelled and thereafter, he has been arrested on 08.01.2024. He has submitted that the petitioner is behind bars from last about 2½ years, however, till date, there is no material progress in the trial. He has submitted that in the facts and circumstances, the petitioner deserves to be granted regular bail.

4. Per contra, learned counsel for the State has vehemently opposed the submissions made by learned counsel for the petitioner. He has submitted that the petitioner has been specifically named in the FIR. He has submitted that the contraband weighing 94.19 grams of Tramadol Hydrochloride was allegedly recovered from the petitioner. He has submitted that the petitioner is a habitual offender, who is involved in 04 other cases. He has submitted that the petitioner has misused the concession of bail earlier granted to him by the learned trial Court. He, on instructions, has submitted that out of total 11 prosecution witnesses, 03 witnesses have been examined so far. He has produced custody certificate of the petitioner today in the Court, which is taken on record.

5. Heard.

6. On hearing learned counsel for the parties and perusing the record, it is deciphered that the alleged recovery