NDPS liability turns on offence date, not parcel booking date, where khat leaves were notified before seizure.

Liability under the NDPS Act was held to depend on the date of commission of the offence, not the earlier parcel booking date. Although khat leaves were booked before the notification, the parcel reached India after the substance had been notified as a psychotropic substance, and the contraband was found and seized on 27.04.2018. On those facts, the court treated seizure and examination as the relevant date of offence, so the later notification applied and the quashing petition failed.

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Issues: Whether the proceedings could be quashed on the ground that khat leaves were booked before their inclusion as a psychotropic substance by notification, and whether the relevant date for liability was the date of booking or the date of commission of the offence.

Analysis: The challenge was based on the contention that khat leaves were not a psychotropic substance when the parcel was booked and that the notification dated 27.02.2018 could not be applied retrospectively. The Court noted that the parcel reached India after the notification, was examined subsequently, and the contraband was found and seized on 27.04.2018. On that factual basis, the Court held that the commission of the offence occurred on the date of seizure and examination, by which time khat leaves stood notified as a psychotropic substance. The earlier booking date did not control the criminal liability.

Conclusion: The petition for quashing failed, because the alleged contraband was already notified as a psychotropic substance on the date when the offence was found to have been committed.

Ratio Decidendi: Liability under the NDPS Act depends on the date of commission of the offence, and not merely on the date on which the parcel was booked, where the substance stood notified before the contraband was actually found and seized.

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