Supreme Court, HC directives remain unimplemented
Equipment worth lakhs of rupees lying unutilized
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 25: Astonishing it may sound but it is a fact that in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory, which is in the tight grip of drug menace, there is no full-fledged Forensic Narcotics Division even after explicit directives of the Supreme Court as well as High Court. Moreover, an equipment which helps in quantification and identification of drugs purchased by spending lakhs of rupees is lying unutilized during the past many years due to official apathy.
In order to ensure timely examination of all the seized drugs and psychotropic substances and render prompt opinion to the investigating agencies for speedy trials in the cases registered under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPSA), the Supreme Court, while dealing with Criminal Appeal No.652 of 2012 titled Union of India Versus Mohan Lal and Another, had in the month of January 2016 passed numerous directions to the States and Union Territories for strict compliance in a time bound manner.
Two important directives were pertaining to establishment of full-fledged Forensic Narcotics Divisions in those States and UTs which don’t have such a facility and creation of adequate facilities for storage of the seized drugs so as to prevent theft, pilferage or replacement.
Astonishingly, there was no compliance to the directives of the Apex Court of the country in Jammu and Kashmir and this aspect came up for discussion before the Division Bench of the High Court in the month of December 2018 during the course of hearing in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Atharv Mahajan Versus State and Others.
At that time, it was submitted before the Division Bench of the High Court by the then Government that Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratory J&K has submitted a proposal to the Home Department for establishment of two Forensic Narcotic Divisions with creation of staff and the same was under examination.
Accordingly, Division Bench headed by Chief Justice had directed the Home Secretary and DGP to fix time-frame for making this facility available keeping in view the growing menace of drugs in Jammu and Kashmir.
“However, the directives of Apex Court as well as J&K High Court have remained unimplemented as no full-fledged Forensic Narcotics Division has been created till date”, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “while there is no headway on the proposal which was conveyed to the High Court, only names of the existing divisions in the FSL were changed during the course of reorganization and no serious attention was paid towards making available adequate manpower and latest equipment”.
They disclosed that in Jammu, the Narcotics Division is being headed by an officer, who has been reengaged after his retirement from the post of Deputy Director as such adhoc approach has been adopted. Moreover, there is no Scientific Officer, Assistant Scientific Officer and Laboratory Assistant in this division in Jammu and only few police personnel have been deployed to assist the retired Deputy Director.
Similarly, in Kashmir, the Narcotics Division is headless with posts of Deputy Director and Scientific Officer lying vacant. There are only two Assistant Scientific Officers, one Laboratory Assistant and few other officials in this division.
“Moreover, an equipment-GC-MS, which helps in identification and quantification of drugs is lying unutilized during the past quite long time for want of trained manpower”, sources informed, adding “the only trained person died few years back and thereafter no serious attempt was made to provide training to some officials so as to pave the way for utilization of equipment, which was purchased by spending lakhs of rupees”.
“At present, the decades old technique is being used for examination of drugs and due to official apathy even 20-25 days training in handling of GC-MS has not been arranged till date”, sources said, adding “how the concerned authorities can remain non-serious towards establishment of full-fledged Forensic Narcotics Division even at a time when J&K is in tight grip of drug menace remains a million dollar question”.
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