Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
Related Articles
Recently, the Tripura High Court has discovered that an oversight in drafting the 2014 amendments to the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 had unintentionally rendered a key provision (Section 27A) of the Act inoperable.
Important points:
- India is a signatory to the United Nations (UN) Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971 and the Convention on Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988.
- They prescribe various forms of control aimed to achieve the dual objective of limiting the use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes as well as preventing the abuse of the same.
- The basic legislative instrument of the Government of India in this regard is the NDPS Act, 1985.
- The Act provides stringent provisions for the control and regulation of operations relating to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
- It also provides for forfeiture of property derived from, or used in, illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
- It also provides for death penalty in some cases where a person is a repeat offender.
- The Narcotics Control Bureau was also constituted in 1986 under the Act.
- The provision reads that whoever indulges in financing, directly or indirectly, any of the activities specified in sub-clauses (i) to (v) of clause (viiia) of section 2 or harbours any person engaged in any of the aforementioned activities.
- He shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to twenty years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees
- Provided that the court may, for reasons to be recorded in the judgment, impose a fine exceeding two lakh rupees.
- The text of the provision says that offences mentioned under Section 2 (viiia) sub-clauses i-v are punishable through Section 27A.
- However, Section 2 (viiia) sub-clauses i-v, which is supposed to be the catalog of offences, does not exist after the 2014 amendment.
- So, if Section 27A penalises a blank list or a non-existent provision, it can be argued that it is virtually inoperable.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES SMINT
