2007 (6) TMI 545

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....able under Section 18 of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'), convicted him for offence punishable under Section 17 of the Act and sentenced him to undergo RI for 10 years and to pay a fine of rupees one lakh with default stipulation. 2. The High Court directed acquittal on the ground that there was non-compliance of mandatory requirement of Section 50 of the Act. Before the High Court though many points were urged, the primary stand was non-compliance of Section 50 of the Act. The High Court accepted that there was non-compliance as alleged. Accordingly, the respondent was acquitted by setting aside the conviction and consequential sentence. 3. In support of the appeal, lea....

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....t any bag, briefcase or any such article or container, etc., being carried by such person and the provisions of Section 50 have to be strictly complied with while conducting, search of such bag, briefcase, article or container, etc. Learned counsel for the State has, on the other hand, submitted that there is no warrant for giving such an extended meaning and the word "person" would mean only the person himself and not any bag, briefcase, article or container, etc., being carried by him. 6. The word "person" has not been defined in the Act. Section 2(xxix) of the Act says that the words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Code of Criminal Procedure have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Code. The....

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....rds of the Statute are first understood in their natural, ordinary or popular sense and phrases and sentences are construed according to their grammatical meaning, unless that leads to some absurdity or unless there is something in the context or in the object of the Statute to suggest the contrary (See the Chapter - The Rule of Literal Construction -page 78 - Ninth ed.). This Court has also followed this principle right from the beginning. In Jugalkishore Saraf v. Raw Cotton Co. Ltd. AIR 1955 SC 376, S.R. Das, J. said: - "The cardinal rule of construction of statutes is to read the statute literally, that is, by giving to the words used by the legislature their ordinary, natural and grammatical meaning. If, however, such a reading leads ....

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....of Punjab v. Baldev Singh (1999 (6) SCC 172)and para 12 of the reports is being reproduced below : "12. On its plain reading, Section 50 would come into play only in the case of a search of a person as distinguished from search of any premises etc. However, if the empowered officer, without any prior information as contemplated by Section 42 of the Act makes a search or causes arrest of a person during the normal course of investigation into an offence or suspected offence and on completion of that search, a contraband under the NDPS Act is also recovered, the requirements of Section 50 of the Act are not attracted." 11. The Bench recorded its conclusion in para 57 of the reports and sub-paras (1), (2), (3) and (6) are being reproduced bel....