Division Bench judgment superseded the single judge order regarding pre-trial disposal of vehicles under Section 52-A NDPS Act. This revision was disposed of without prejudice to the prosecution's right to apply for vehicle disposal under the new framework.
PRAYER ALLOWED
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
CRLREV No.479 of 2020
Dipun Chinara
…. Petitioner
-versus-
State of Odisha
…. Opposite Party
CORAM: JUSTICE S.PUJAHARI
Order No.
ORDER 04.02.2022 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid Mode.
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the motor cycle Yamaha YZF R15 bearing registration number OD-02-AR-1418.
“24. Before concluding, the Court would like to note that there have been decisions of the learned Single Judges of this Court on the subject of release of vehicles seized after being found carrying the narcotic drugs. In Jitendra Kumar Digal v. State of Odisha by judgment dated 22nd October 2020 in Criminal Revision No. 281 of 2020, it was held that when the accused is the owner of the seized vehicle carrying the narcotic goods, the vehicle should not be released in his favour.
It is clarified that the directions issued in the present judgment would prevail hereafter.
Concluding directions
(i) All pending applications shown in Annexure-3 to the petition shall be taken up forthwith by a First Class Magistrate specifically nominated in each of the respective districts by the District and Sessions Judge, who will deal with such applications exclusively on all working Saturdays of the month till the entire backlog is cleared. If the number of such pending cases is large in a particular district, the concerned District and Sessions Judge will nominate more than one Magistrate for that purpose who will take up the applications likewise.
(ii) All such applications will be taken up chronologically with the oldest applications being listed first. Of course, wherever the urgent directions are required because of the possibility of the seized substances deteriorating, such applications can be
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taken up out of turn for reasons to be recorded in writing by the concerned Magistrate.
(iii) There shall be strict compliance with the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court of India in Mohanlal (supra). All the applications under Section 52-A (2) to (4) NDPS Act pending before the learned Magistrates in the different judgeships in Odisha should be disposed of within a period of three months from today i.e. in any event on or before 1st May, 2022and all fresh applications filed hereafter will be endeavoured to be disposed of within a period of ten days from the date of their filing.
(iv) The State Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) is requested to cooperate with the concerned Magistrates' Courts for the purposes of the implementation of the above directions in a time bound manner and correspondingly submit the test result reports to the concerned Courts within a period of two weeks of the receipt of the samples sent hereafter. As regards pending samples, the State FSL will clear the backlog and send their reports to the concerned Courts within a period of two months from today and in any event not later than 1st April, 2022.
(v) On receipt of the test report, the Magistrate shall complete the remaining part of the exercise of taking photographs/videograph (of not more than 1 minute duration)that reveal the dimensions of the seized conveyance from all angles in digital format and encrypting them with the hash value in the presence of counsel for the parties within ten days from the date of receipt of the test report. In this regard, the Registry of the High Court will communicate to each District Judge, the detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) and this part of the direction will take effect immediately after the receipt of the SoP by the District Judge. The Registry of the High Court is requested to circulate to all the District Judges, the detailed SoP to be followed by each of the Magistrates.
(vi) A monthly statement on the disposal of all such applications will be submitted to the concerned District Judge by the Magistrates and in turn such monthly statement should be forwarded simultaneously to the corresponding HLDDC and the Committee constituted by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Odisha on the administrative side. Both the HLDDC
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as well as the High Court Committee will meet with fair regularity to monitor implementation of these directionson the administrative side and call for an explanation from the concerned Magistrate if there is an inordinate delay in disposal of the application.”
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PKS/MRS
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2 issues framed by the court
Whether the prayer for release of seized vehicle under Section 457 Cr.P.C. survives given the pre-trial disposal directions under Section 52-A NDPS Act.
Whether the Criminal Revision dealing with the release of a motorbike seized in NDPS case can be disposed of immediately.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Jitendra Kumar Digal v. State of OdishaFollowed¶18
Jitendra Kumar Digal v. State of Odisha by judgment dated 22nd October 2020 in Criminal Revision No. 281 of 2020
MohanlalFollowed¶22
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Dipun Chinara
State of Odisha
S. Pujahari
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
