Apex Court Appoints Amicus To Look Into Issue Of Shortage Of Manpower In FSL Units In States Leading To Non-Submission Of Reports With Chargesheets
The Supreme Court has appointed an Amicus Curiae in a case in order to consider the issue of non-submission of the FSL Report with the chargesheet in the cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (‘NDPS Act’) due to vacant posts/ shortage of manpower in FSL Units.
Recently, in another case, the Apex Court had sought responses from the Union, States and Union Territories as regards the current status of FSL/Examiner’s Laboratories and the creation of a robust mechanism for submission of the FSL/Examiner’s Reports within the stipulated period.
The Bench of Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice Rajesh Bindal observed, “The case in hand is not an isolated one. Regularly the matters are listed before this Court pertaining to different States where similar arguments are raised by learned counsel for the petitioner regarding nonsubmission of FSL/Lab reports in different types of crimes along with the chargesheet…To consider the issue on larger canvas as this difficulty is being faced throughout the country, we deem it appropriate to appoint Mr. Nikhil Goel, Senior Advocate, to assist the Court as amicus, who shall be at liberty to take assistance from any A.O.R.(s). This Court will pass order regarding honorarium to be paid to the learned amicus and A.O.R.(s) later.”
Senior Advocate N. K. Mody appeared for the Petitioner whereas AOR Pashupathi Nath Razdan appeared for the Respondent.
The Petitioner was accused of offences under Sections 8, 18 and 25 of the NDPS Act. It was the case of the Accused that the FSL Report was not submitted along with the chargesheet. As the petitioner was languishing in jail since September 11, 2020, without there being a report from FSL regarding the stuff allegedly recovered from the petitioner, on February 16, 2024, the Court had granted interim bail to him.
Vide the aforesaid order, the Court had directed the Additional Director General of the Police (Narcotics Wing) to file an affidavit enumerating details as to in how much matters FSL reports had not been filed along with the Challans and what steps are being taken to procure the FSL reports at the earliest. An Affidavit was filed by the Additional Director General where it was mentioned that out of the total 24,169 cases registered under the NDPS Act in the State in 7,158 cases, FSL reports had not been submitted along with the challan.
The Court said that as per the NDPS Act, a challan has to be filed within 60 days in cases involving small quantities and within 180 days in cases involving commercial quantities. The failure can result in default bail and in cases where the FSL report is not received, the challans are filed based on the acknowledgement receipts for the deposit of samples in FSL. After receipt of the reports, the same are submitted in court, the Court added.
Explaining the delay in receipt of FSL reports it was also stated in the Affidavit that currently FSL unit is experiencing a shortage of manpower. FSL Laboratory which is under the Madhya Pradesh Police, is in the process of recruiting 46 laboratory technicians and laboratory assistants. The Department is in the process of upgrading the. Forensic Science Laboratory in the State.
Subsequently, the Court on July 9, 2024, had directed to furnish the information on i) As to how many posts in the FSL Labs are sanctioned; ii) Since when those posts are vacant; and iii) Why the steps to reinforce the effective investigation making available the manpower have not been taken.
Another affidavit dated July 27, 2024, was filed. Considering the said affidavit, the Court said, “In the chart annexed as Annexure R5 with the Affidavit, the information furnished therein is astonishing. There are total 505 sanctioned posts. Out of which only 190 are filled up and 315 are vacant i.e. more than 62% posts are still lying vacant. To mention a few, 2 sanctioned posts of Additional Director General are lying vacant; out of 15 sanctioned posts of Junior Director, 14 are lying vacant; out of 88 Senior Scientific Officers, 72 are lying vacant; for Lab Technician out of 60 sanctioned posts, 44 are lying vacant; for Lab Assistant 87 sanctioned posts, 65 are lying vacant; for Lab Attendant out of 59 sanctioned posts, 45 are lying vacant. This being the position of manpower available no one can expect submission of FSL reports in time…The communication dated 07.03.2024 issued by the Police Headquarters, Narcotics Branch, Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, may complicate the situation further.”
The Court, accordingly, listed the matter for a further date.
Cause Title: Bablu Singh v. The State of Madhya Pradesh
Appearances:
Petitioner: Senior Advocate N. K. Mody, AOR Praveen Swarup, Advocates Prabuddha Singh Gour, Ishita M. Puranik, Sukhamrit Singh, Suresh Kumar Bhan and Nityanand Mahato.
Respondent: AOR Pashupathi Nath Razdan, Advocates Bittu Kumar Singh, Mirza Kayesh Begg, Maitreyee Jagat Joshi, Astik Gupta, Akanksha Tomar, Argha Roy, Ojaswini Gupta and Zartab Anwar.
