Special Court Can Invoke S.457 CrPC To Grant Of Interim Custody Of Vehicles Seized Under NDPS Act: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has stated that a Special Court under the NDPS Act can grant interim custody under Section 457 of the CrPC of vehicles that have been seized under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

“Leaving the seized vehicle idle and exposed to sun, rain and the vagaries of nature till the completion of the legal formalities, will only result in deterioration of the vehicle and its value” observed the court.

A bench constituting of Justices A Muhammed Mustaque, Sathish Ninan and Shoba Annamma Eapen was reviewing the decision in Shajahan v. Inspector of Excise and Others (2019), in which a Division Bench of this Court had held that a Special Court does not have the power to consider grant of release of vehicles under the NDPS Act.

“By keeping the vehicle idle and unattended it becomes scrap by passage of time. When ultimately the vehicle is ordered to be disposed of, it will hardly fetch any value. This will not benefit anybody including the State exchequer” stated the court.

The court remarked that while the government had constituted a drug disposal committee to exercise the power of disposal of seized items, Section 52A  of the NDPS Act “stipulates only the preparation of inventory and an application before the magistrate for the purposes mentioned in 52A(2)”.

The court thus noted that there was no provision expressly providing for the interim release of a vehicle alleged to be involved in an offence under the NDPS Act, nor was there any provision enabling the drug disposal committee to order the interim release of the vehicle/conveyance.

The court took note of the provisions under the Act relating to the applicability of CrPC, such as Section 36C (which makes the provisions of CrPC applicable to the proceedings before the Special Court under the Act) and Section 51 (which makes the provisions of the CrPC applicable to warrants, arrests, searches and seizures made under the Act, to the extent they are not inconsistent with its provisions).

It held that under Section 457 of the CrPC, which deals with the grant of interim custody, the Special Court had the power to grant interim custody of the vehicle that had been seized under the NDPS Act.

“There is no reason to hold that the Section does not apply to proceedings before the special court” concluded the court.

Case Number: WA No. 1304 of 2022

Case Title: Pradeep B v. The District Drug Disposal Committee and ors.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Ker) 142

Counsel for Petitioners: Advocates Suresh Kumar Kodoth and Sukarnan

Counsel for Respondents: Advocate KP Harish, Senior Government Pleader

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