Rajya Sabha passes NDPS (Amendment) Bill 2021 to correct a drafting error

On Monday, Rajya Sabha passed Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021. It was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha on December 13. The Bill was introduced by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to amend the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 aiming to correct a drafting error created by a 2014 amendment to the original legislation.

The error emerged after the NDPS Act was amended in 2014 to improve medical access to narcotic substances and remove state impediments in transporting and licencing critical narcotic drugs. A legislative declaration concerning what one section refers to is included in the 2021 amendment. Since 2014, when the legislation was first amended, it says Section 2 clause (viii)a relates to clause (viii)b in Section 27, as reported by ANI.

Section 27A of the NDPS Act of 1985 makes it illegal to finance illegal traffic and to harbour offenders. The NDPS Act was amended in 2014 to allow for improved medical access to narcotic drugs. The amendment defined "essential drugs" in Section 2(viii)a, and it authorised the manufacturing, possession, transportation, interstate import and export, sale, purchase, consumption, and use of essential narcotic drugs under Section 9. 

However, prior to the 2014 amendment, Section 2(viii)a was already in existence and provided a list of offences for which Section 27A prescribes the sentence. Section 27A states, "Whoever finances, directly or indirectly, any of the activities specified in sub-clauses I to (v) of clause (viii)a of section 2 or harbours any person engaged in any of the aforementioned activities shall be punished by rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than ten years but not more than twenty years, and shall also be liable to a fine, not less than one lakh rupees but not more than two lakh rupees," as per ANI. In 2014, the legislation re-numbered Section 2 while defining "essential drugs." 

Section 27A has been inactive since 2014 due to an error

The list of offences, which was earlier mentioned under Section 2(viii)a, had been shifted to Section 2(viii)b. The amendment's section 2(viii)a defined necessary narcotic substances. However, the drafters failed to amend Section 2(viii)a to Section 2(viii)b in the enabling provision in Section 27A. Section 27A dealt with the offences listed in sub-clauses i-v of Section 2(viii)a. However, with the 2014 amendment, Section 2 (viii)a sub-clauses i-v, which were supposed to represent the index of offences, does not exist. It is now Section 2(viii)b. Because of this drafting error, Section 27A has been inactive since 2014.

With inputs from ANI

Image: ANI