Default bail under NDPS law fails once a valid extension order is passed before the chargesheet is filed.

Under Section 36A(4) of the NDPS Act, the accused must be produced before the court and informed that extension of time for investigation is being considered; a formal written notice is not required. On the facts, the accused was present when the extension application was heard and the order recorded that he had nothing to say, so an opportunity of hearing was inferred. Earlier extension orders passed without hearing did not render detention illegal once a later valid extension order was passed before filing of the chargesheet, and the right to default bail did not survive after the chargesheet had been filed.

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Issues: Whether the applicant was entitled to bail on the ground that the orders extending time for filing the chargesheet were passed without notice or hearing, and whether subsequent filing of the chargesheet extinguished any right to bail based on alleged non-compliance with the prescribed time limit.

Analysis: Section 36A(4) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 was treated as being in pari materia with the corresponding provision considered in the cited precedent under the TADA Act. The governing principle was that the accused must be produced before the court and informed that extension of time for completing the investigation is under consideration; a formal written notice is not necessary. On the facts, the accused was present when the application for extension was heard on 10 November 2010, the order recorded that he had nothing to say, and the court inferred that he was given an opportunity of being heard. The earlier extension orders, though passed without hearing, did not by themselves make the detention illegal once a subsequent valid extension order was passed before the chargesheet was filed. The right to bail on account of default in filing the chargesheet was also held not to survive after the chargesheet had in fact been filed.

Conclusion: The applicant was not entitled to bail; the extension order was held to comply with Section 36A(4) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and the subsequent filing of the chargesheet defeated the claim for release on default bail.

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