Cuttack, March 29: The Orissa High Court held that an Assistant Sessions Judge cannot conduct trial for cases under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
The High Court said a Sessions Judge or an Additional Sessions Judge is competent to do so.
The court ruled this recently acquitting a person convicted by an Assistant Sessions Judge for committing offence under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
The acquittal order was passed recently in the case of Balmiki Rout, who was convicted by Assistant Sessions Judge, Jeypore and sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment.
Rout had filed a criminal appeal against it. Initially, a single judge had taken up the criminal appeal, but later observed that the matter needs reconsideration by a larger bench.
The division bench of Justice Debabrata Dash and Justice V Narasingh held that the legislative intent indicated in section 36-D of the NDPS Act is clear that the court of sessions means the court presided over by a Sessions Judge or an Additional Sessions Judge, not by an Assistant Sessions Judge.