Srinagar: As many as four Special Courts are coming up in Jammu and Kashmir to exclusively deal with the cases registered under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, report said.
Quoting officials, the report said that Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs will shortly identify the districts in consultation with the High Court where these courts will function.
They said that a decision in this regard was taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and attended by all the agencies, which are working for the eradication of the menace of drug abuse in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“At present, all the Principal District and Sessions Judges are dealing with the cases registered under NDPSA but keeping in view the load of other cases the matters pertaining to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances don’t get priority attention, which otherwise is required keeping in view the alarming situation vis-à-vis drug menace”, sources said.
They further said, “the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs will identify the districts where these Special Courts will be established in consultation with the High Court. This is because only High Court has the powers to decide place of sitting of any court”, adding “those districts where maximum number of cases are being registered under NDPSA are likely to get these Special Courts”.
The Section 36 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 states: “The Government may, for the purpose of providing speedy trial of the offences under this Act, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute as many Special Courts as may be necessary for such area or areas as may be specified in the notification”.
Similarly, Section 36(A) of the Act read: “Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, all offences under this Act which are punishable with imprisonment for a term of more than three years shall be triable only by the Special Court constituted for the area in which the offence has been committed or where there are more Special Courts than one for such area, by such one of them as may be specified in this behalf by the Government”.
4 courts to deal with cases under NDPS cases soon in J&K
