Content Provider | Supreme Court of India |
---|---|
e-ISSN | 30484839 |
Language | English |
Access Restriction | NDLI |
Subject Keyword | Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 - s.20(b)(ii)(C) and s.2 (viia) - Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Act 2001 (Act No. 9 of 2001) - s.41(1) - |
Content Type | Text |
Resource Type | Law Judgement |
Jurisdiction | India |
Case Type | Appeal |
Court | Supreme Court of India |
Disposal Nature | Appeal Allowed |
Headnote | Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 — s.20(b)(ii)(C) and s.2 (viia) -— Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Act, 2001 (Act No. 9 of 2001) — s.41(1) — Seized contraband article within definition of commercial quantity — Trial Court taking note of the fact that the first respondent and the second respondent were in possession of 6 kg. 200 gms and 4 kgs. of charas respectively and the prosecution had been able to establish the same, treated the contraband article as commercial quantity and accordingly convicted them u/s.20(b)(ii)(C) of the NDPS Act and sentenced each of them to RI for 12 years ~— High Court, however, held that the narcotic drug proved to have been recovered from the possession of the accused persons was of “intermediate quantity” in terms of s.2(viia) of the NDPS Act read with S.O. 1055(E) dated 19.1.2001 and the addition of “Note 3” after “Note 4 did not change the complexion of the matter for the reason that the alleged recovery had been made way back on 5.4.2004 — Accordingly, the High Court altered the conviction of accused-respondents to one u/s.8 r/w s.20(b)(ii}(B) of the NDPS Act and restricted the period of custody to the period already undergone — On appeal, held: s.41(1) of the Amending Act 9 of 2001 determined the application or exclusion of the amending provisions — in the case at hand, the occurrence too place in 2004 and, therefore, the Amending Act of 2001 was applicable — s.2 (vila) of the NDPS Act defines commercial quantity — Trial Court took note of . the fact that the notification issued on 19.10.2001 clearly shows that more than one kilogram is commercial quantity — The High Court reversed the finding pertaining to commercial ~ quantity being guided by presence of “Tetra-hydrocannabino!” (THC) content- it found that the seized article contained more than 50 gms. Tetra hydrocannabinol in respect of both the accused persons — In the present case, the contraband article that has been seized is “charas” — The chemical name for charas and hashish is “extracts. and tinctures of cannabis” — It finds mention at Entry No.23 of the Notification — Serial No. 150 of the Notification deals with - “tetrahydrocannababinol” having a long list— The commercial quantity for the contraband article, namely, Tetra hydrocannabinol (THC) as stated in Entry no. 150 is 50 gms — Even assuming the said percentage is found in the seized item then also the contraband article would go beyond the “intermediate” quantity and fail under the “commercial” quantity — Judged from any score, the view expressed by the High Court is not correct — Therefore, the seized item fell under the commercial quantity and hence the conviction recorded by the trial court u/s.20 (b) (ii) (C) is absolutely impeccable — s.20(b)(ii)(C) stipulates that the minimum sentence will be ten years which may extend to twenty years ~ On facts, accused-respondents found guilty of offence punishable u/s.20(b)(ii)(C) of the NDPS Act and each of them sentenced to undergo RI for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1 lakh. Sentence / Sentencing — Minimum mandatory sentence — Effect — Held: When a minimum punishment is prescribed, no court can impose lesser punishment |
Judge | Honble Mr. Justice Dipak Misra |
Neutral Citation | 2015 INSC 719 |
Petitioner | State Through Intelligence Officer Narcotics Control Bureau |
Respondent | Mushtaq Ahmad Etc. |
SCR | [2015] 15 S.C.R. 452 |
Judgement Date | 2015-10-06 |
Case Number | 1294-1295 |
National Digital Library of India (NDLI) is a virtual repository of learning resources which is not just a repository with search/browse facilities but provides a host of services for the learner community. It is sponsored and mentored by Ministry of Education, Government of India, through its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT). Filtered and federated searching is employed to facilitate focused searching so that learners can find the right resource with least effort and in minimum time. NDLI provides user group-specific services such as Examination Preparatory for School and College students and job aspirants. Services for Researchers and general learners are also provided. NDLI is designed to hold content of any language and provides interface support for 10 most widely used Indian languages. It is built to provide support for all academic levels including researchers and life-long learners, all disciplines, all popular forms of access devices and differently-abled learners. It is designed to enable people to learn and prepare from best practices from all over the world and to facilitate researchers to perform inter-linked exploration from multiple sources. It is developed, operated and maintained from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.
Learn more about this project from here.
NDLI is a conglomeration of freely available or institutionally contributed or donated or publisher managed contents. Almost all these contents are hosted and accessed from respective sources. The responsibility for authenticity, relevance, completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability of these contents rests with the respective organization and NDLI has no responsibility or liability for these. Every effort is made to keep the NDLI portal up and running smoothly unless there are some unavoidable technical issues.
Ministry of Education, through its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), has sponsored and funded the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) project.
Sl. | Authority | Responsibilities | Communication Details |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education |
Sanctioning Authority | https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives |
2 | Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project | https://www.iitkgp.ac.in |
3 | National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project | Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in |
4 | Project PI / Joint PI | Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project |
Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon |
5 | Website/Portal (Helpdesk) | Queries regarding NDLI and its services | support@ndl.gov.in |
6 | Contents and Copyright Issues | Queries related to content curation and copyright issues | content@ndl.gov.in |
7 | National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club) | Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach | clubsupport@ndl.gov.in |
8 | Digital Preservation Centre (DPC) | Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books | dpc@ndl.gov.in |
9 | IDR Setup or Support | Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops | idr@ndl.gov.in |