The Supreme Court says Ganja seeds are not a banned contraband under the NDPS Act.

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s).2523/2023

(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 17-10-2022 in CRLMA No.13884/2022 passed by the High Court Of Gujarat At Ahmedabad)

HASUBHAI KAMABHAI THAKOR                                                                                                                                                                                             Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

THE STATE OF GUJARAT                                                                                                                                                                                                      Respondent(s)

IA No. 29235/2023 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.

IA No. 30625/2023 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL

DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ANNEXURES)

Date : 26-04-2023 This matter was called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HRISHIKESH ROY

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ MISRA

For Petitioner(s)

Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR

Mr. Mayank Gautam, Adv.

Mr. Parvez Alam, Adv.

Mr. Alok M Thakkar, Adv.

Mr. Nilay V Suchak, Adv.

For Respondent(s)

Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv.

Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR

Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

O R D E R

Heard Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. Rajat SLP (Crl.) No.2523/2023 1/3 Nair, learned counsel appearing for the respondentState.

2. The petitioner is in custody since 20.05.2022 and he is before this Court challenging the rejection of his bail petition by the High Court under the impugned order.

3. The materials on record show that the petitioner has supplied Ganja seed for cultivation and as per the definition of Ganja in Section 2(iii)(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act), it is not a banned contraband. There are no specific allegation that the Ganja seeds were supplied by the petitioner to the other person with an intention to receive back the grown Ganja after cultivation.

4. The respondent-State has not filed any counter affidavit in the matter but from the materials made available, it can be seen that at best the petitioner can be said to have supplied Ganja seeds for plantation.

5. Taking the above into account and the incarceration of the petitioner since 20.05.2022 as SLP (Crl.) No.2523/2023 2/3 also noticing that the chargesheet has already been filed, we deem it appropriate to release the petitioner on bail. Accordingly, the petitioner be released on bail subject to the terms and conditions to be imposed by the learned Trial Court.

6. With the above order, the Special Leave Petition is disposed of. The observations in this order will have no bearing in the case either of the prosecution or of defence, in the trial.

7. Pending application(s), if any, stand closed.

(DEEPAK JOSHI)                                                                                                                                                                                                               (KAMLESH RAWAT)

COURT MASTER (SH)                                                                                                                                                                                              ASSISTANT REGISTRAR