The Delhi High Court issued a notification to the Centre on a petition challenging 2 notifications expanding the definition of drugs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The petition by one Rajeev TM argued that the Centre issued two notifications, in 2001 and 2009, under Sections 2 (viia) and 2 (xxiiia) of the NDPS Act, effectively creating a new category of offence by penalising the preparation of a drug at par with the drug itself.
The notifications seek to classify a new category of drug users based on the total weight of the drug (including the weight of neutral material) and not on the weight of the pure drug content which should have been the correct indicator of whether a quantity is a commercial quantity or small quantity intended for personal consumption.
The petitioner contended that the NDPS Act requires only the pure narcotic drugs/psychotropic substances to be considered for determining quantities, and therefore the notifications are wrong.
The notifications violate Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, and have been issued by the government more than the conferred authority while being ultra vires of the NDPS Act, and should thus be quashed, it was prayed.
