The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre, state governments and the Union territories to expeditiously set up dedicated courts to deal with an "alarming rise" in cases under the anti-drug law.
NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre, state governments and the Union territories to expeditiously set up dedicated courts to deal with an "alarming rise" in cases under the anti-drug law.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati informed a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant that 449 special courts were required to effectively deal with cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, out of which 176 were already functional.
"It seems to us that owing to the present pendency of cases and the unfortunate, alarming increase in the cases under the NDPS Act, it is expedient and in the interest of justice that all required 449 courts are established at the earliest," the bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, said.
It directed all the authorities concerned to take the necessary steps and provide the infrastructure required for creation of these special courts preferably in six weeks.
The apex court was hearing a suo motu case titled 'In Re: creation of special exclusive courts'.
Besides the NDPS courts, Bhati said eight new courts have been set up across the country to exclusively deal with cases probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), taking the total to twenty-two.
The bench, which had on May 8 directed that at least one special court be established to deal with 10 to 15 pending trials in cases probed by the NIA, observed that "the objective of the order has been largely achieved" on account of the support of the government authorities and the high courts.
The counsels appearing for various states and high courts said that an appropriate number of additional NIA courts would be established in a time-bound manner.
The counsels for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu assured that the states would set up three NIA courts and two NIA courts, respectively within two weeks.
Keralam's counsel said that two such courts would become operational there in a month.
The bench also directed the authorities in Assam to expedite the setting up of its two proposed NIA courts and make them operational within four weeks. Assam's counsel said one NIA court is already functional there.
Similarly, the top court directed the West Bengal authorities to act on setting up three more NIA courts, besides the two existing courts.
The counsel for Jammu and Kashmir said the requirement was for four courts, out of which one was functional.
Uttarakhand's counsel said that while the state has one NIA court, there are no pending cases.
Counsels for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar said they have one NIA court and two NIA courts, respectively, to appropriately deal with the pending cases.
While hearing the matter on April 20, the top court had asked all the states and Union territories (UTs) to provide details of terror and narcotics cases being probed by the central and state agencies, including the NIA and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), as a step towards setting up special exclusive courts for early disposal of the cases.
It had asked the Centre to consider providing funds of Rs 1 crore each for setting up the courts in all states and UTs to prosecute cases lodged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the NDPS Act.
The bench has earlier highlighted that early disposal would balance the rights of the accused and victims both.
The suo motu petition was initiated following concerns that NIA trials were languishing for years.