2017 (2) TMI 471

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....termine the purity and the possible origin of illicit drugs, carry out drug-related research, particularly on new sources of drugs liable to abuse, and, when required by the police or courts of law, provide supportive expertise in drug trafficking cases. Their role in the effective implementation of the mandate of the NDPS Act is indispensible which is why every State or region must have proximate access to these laboratories so that samples collected for the purposes of the Act may be sent on a timely basis to them for scrutiny. These samples often form primary and clinching evidence for both the prosecution and the defence, making their evaluation by narcotics laboratories a crucial exercise. 17. The numbers of these laboratories speak f....

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....these laboratories is necessary for ameliorating the present state of affairs, for which, we are issuing the following directions: 19.1 The Centre must ensure equal access to CFSLs from different parts of the country. The current four CFSLs only cater to the needs of northern and some areas of western and eastern parts of the country. Therefore, besides the three in the pipeline, more CFSL's must be established, especially to cater to the needs of southern and eastern parts of the country. 19.2. Analogous directions are issued to the states. Several States do not possess any existing infrastructure to facilitate analysis of samples and are hence, compelled to send them to laboratories in other parts of the country for scrutiny. Therefore,....

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.... not permit re-sampling or re-testing of samples. Yet, there has been a trend to the contrary; NDPS courts have been consistently obliging to applications for re-testing and re-sampling. These applications add to delays as they are often received at advanced stages of trials after significant elapse of time. NDPS courts seem to be permitting re-testing nonetheless by taking resort to either some High Court judgments [see: State of Kerala v. Deepak. P. Shah and Nihal Khan v. State (Govt. of NCT Delhi)] or perhaps to Section 79 and 80 of the NDPS Act which permit application of the Customs Act, 1962 and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. While re-testing may be an important right of an accused, the haphazard manner in which the right is impor....