Being aggrieved by the said judgment and order v. State of Kerala & Anr.

Being aggrieved by the said judgment and order, the accused has filed the aforesaid appeal before this Court.

At the out set it is made clear by Mr.Umesh Trivedi, learned advocate appearing for the appellant that he is not challenging the order of conviction and he was addressing the Court only on the question of sentence. Since he has not challenged the conviction it is not necessary for this Court to reappreciate the evidence. As far as imposition of sentence is concerned, Mr.Trivedi submitted that offence is committed on 22.11.99 and the appellant – accused is in the custody from that date. The appellant – original accused is convicted on

29.11.2003. When the offence was committed CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT the old act was in force. The Act was amended with effect from 2.10.2001. Under the old Act the production, manufacturing selling, purchasing, transporting warehousing, using, consuming etc, of ganja is prohibited under Section-8(c) and punishment for such production, manufacturing etc was imposable under Section-20(b)(i) for a term which may extend to 5 years and to pay fine which may extend to Rs.50,000/-. Under the amended Act, which has come into force with effect from 2.10.2001, the production, manufacturing etc, of ganja is punishable under Section-20(b)(i) with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.

Mr.Trivedi has, however, submitted that Section-41 of the Amended Act, 2001 provides that any person found guilty of any offence punishable under the principal Act, as it CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT stood immediately before such commencement, shall be liable for punishment which is lesser than the punishment for which he is otherwise liable at the date of the commission of such offence. Thus, on

22.11.1999 when the offence was committed it was punishable with imprisonment for 5 years. The provisions of the amended Act would not be applicable and hence under no circumstance the appellant-accused could have been convicted for any term larger than the term of 5 years. Mr.Trivedi has, therefore, submitted that the appellant is in jail since

22.11.1999 and as on today he has already completed more than 7 years. His confinement beyond 5 years would be totally illegal and unjustified and hence the appellant-accused deserves to be released forthwith.

Mr.K.T.Dave, learned Additional Public Prosecutor, on the other hand submitted that during the course of investigation and trial CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT the Amended Act was very much in force and the date on which the Session Case was decided by the learned Special Judge, Anand the Amended Act is in force and hence the punishment of R.I of 10 years is rightly imposed by the learned trial Judge and no interference is called for, especially when the appellant-accused has not pressed his ground challenging the conviction.

To appreciate the controversy raised before the Court, it is worthwhile to have a close look at the relevant provisions of the Act. Section-8 prohibits certain operations. Sub Section-(c) of Section-8 says that,

No person shall - produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inter-State, export inter-State, import into India, export from India or tranship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.

Section-20 of the Act imposed punishment CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT for contravention in relation to cannabis plant and cannabis. Section-20(b) reads as under :- “Whoever, in contravention of any provisions of this Act or any rule or order made or condition of license granted thereunder:- produces, manufactures, possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or uses cannabis, shall be punishable, - (i) where such contravention relates to ganja or the cultivation of cannabis plant, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees;

By virtue of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 2001 Section- 20(b)(ii) is amended and after its amendment it reads as under :- “Section-20 Punishment for contravention in relation to cannabis plant and cannabis – whoever, in contravention of any provisions of this Act or any rule or order made or condition of license granted thereunder,- (a) cultivates any cannabis plant; or CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT (b) produces, manufactures, possesses, sells purchases, transports, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or uses cannabis, shall be punishable- (i) where such contravention relates to clause (a) with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees; and (ii) where such contravention relates to sub-clause (b),- (A) and involves small quantity, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, which may extend to ten thousand rupees, or with both; (B) and involves quantity lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years and with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees; (C ) and involves commercial quantity, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to twenty years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees: Provided that the Court may, for reasons to be CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT recorded in the judgment, impose a fine exceeding two lakh rupees.)

Section-41 of the Amendment Act, 2001 deals with application of the said Act to pending cases. Sub Section-1 of Section-41 of this Amendment Act reads as under:-

Sub Section-1 of Section-41 – Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2) of Section 1, all cases pending before the Courts or under investigation at the commencement of this Act shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the principal Act as amended by this Act and accordingly, any person found guilty of any offence punishable under the principal Act, as it stood immediately before such commencement, shall be liable for a punishment which is lesser than the punishment for which he is otherwise liable at the date of the commission of such offence; Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to cases pending in appeal.

Section-41(1) has come up for CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT consideration before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Basheer alias N.P.Basheer vs. State of Kerala, reported in (2004) 3 Supreme Court Cases 609. It is observed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that by this section, Parliament has declared its intention to apply the amended provisions of the Act to: (a) all cases pending before the court on 2.10.2001; (b) all cases under investigation as on that date; and provides that these categories of cases shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the 1985 Act as amended by the Act of

2001. In other words, the benefit of the rationalised sentencing structure would be applicable to these categories. The proviso, however, makes an exception and excludes the application of the rationalised sentencing structure to cases pending in appeal. The Court further observed in para-12 of the judgment that all statues must be interpreted as prospective in operation, unless CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT retrospectivity is expressly declared by the statute or to be inferred as the necessary intendment from the language used in the statute. As far as the amendments introduced in the NDPS Act, 1985, by Act 9 of 2001 are concerned, Section-41, in term, says that the amending Act would apply to all cases pending before the court or under investigation on the date of commencement of the amending Act. In other words, it is to be applied retrospectively. If the Act had contained any provisions to the detriment of the accused, then undoubtedly, it would have been hit by the rule against post facto legislation contained in Article 20(1). However, the court found that the amendments (at least the ones rationalising the sentencing structure) are more beneficial to the accused and amount to mollification of the rigour of the law. Consequently, despite retrospectivity they ought to be applied to the cases pending before the Court or even to CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT cases pending investigation on the date on which the amending Act came into force. Such application would not be hit by Article 20(1) of the Constitution.

From the aforesaid observations made by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, it is clear that the Hon'ble Supreme Court was mainly concerned in that case with rationalisation of the sentence structure. The controversy which arises before this Court in the present appeal was not there before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. However, the observations which have been made to the effect that if the Act had contained any provisions to the detriment of the accused, then undoubtedly, it would have been hit by the rule against post facto legislation contained in Article 20(1), would certainly help the present appellant and it would be a guiding factor to resolve this controversy. The Court was also mindful of the fact that the amendment in the CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT form of rationalising the sentencing structure is more beneficial to the accused and amount to mollification of the rigour of the law. However, if on the basis of this amendment a person who has committed the offence prior to this amendment, subjecting him conviction and sentence of 5 years and whose offence was investigated and tried after the said amendment shall not be made him liable to the enhanced sentence of 10 years instead of 5 years, as it would certainly hit by rules against post facto legislation contained under Article-20(1) of the Constitution of India.

Article-20(1) reads as under :- “Article-20(1) No person shall be convicted of any offence except for violation of the law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged as an offence, nor be subjected to a penalty greater than that which might have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of the commission of the CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT offence.

Prohibitions imposed by Article-20 are directly relevant to the criminal process. Clause (1) is concerned with the substantive law of criminal liability and penalty. Later portion of this article clearly reveals that no person shall be subjected to penalty greater than that which might have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of the commission of the offence. The offence admittedly committed on 22.11.1999. On that date, old provisions are in force and for commission of such offence, the accused appellant was liable to be sentenced for imprisonment of 5 years and fine of rupees fifty thousand and in default thereof S.I of 6 months. If the amending provisions are made applicable to the appellant's case in that case the appellant-accused would be liable to be sentenced for R.I of 10 years with fine of Rs.1 lakh and in default thereof CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT S.I of 1 year. This should not be the intention of the legislature and it would hit by the rule against post facto legislation contained in Article-20(1) of the Constitution of India.

It is true that the above contention has not been raised before the trial Court and the trial Court had no occasion to deal with the said contention. However, this being a question of law and since no new facts are required to be investigated and there is no dispute about the fact that the offence was committed on 22.11.1999, we are of the view that the sentence of R.I of 10 years with fine of Rs.50,000/- and in default thereof S.I of six months is not at all justified. The appellant-accused should have been sentenced only for R.I of 5 years with fine of rupees fifty thousand and in default thereof S.I of 6 months. Since the appellant-accused has already undergone the CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT sentence of more than 7 years, which is more than the sentence imposable under old provisions even with default of fine i.e 5 years and six months, no further sentence is required to be undergone by the appellant- accused.

While taking this view, we derive support from the decision of this very Bench of this Court in case of Thakarshi Naranbhai Patel vs. State of Gujarat & Another, reported in 2006(3) GLH 603, wherein considering identical facts, the sentence was reduced from 10 years to 5 years by considering the old provisions of the Act.

In the above view of the matter, we partly allow this appeal and for the reasons stated hereinabove, reduce the sentence of 10 years with fine of Rs.50,000/- and in default thereof S.I of six months to sentence of R.I 5 years with fine of rupees fifty thousand CR.A/1618/2003 JUDGMENT and in default thereof S.I of 6 months. Since the appellant has already undergone this sentence, we direct the jail authority to release the appellant-accused forthwith if his presence is not required in respect of any other case. This appeal is accordingly partly allowed. (A. M. KAPADIA, J.)

(K. A. PUJ, J.)