SITA SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short question involved in the bunch of criminal miscellaneous petitions is, if the High Court has the power to suspend the sentence or release the convicted persons on bail under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act; 1985 (hereinafter described as an 'Act') during the pendency of the appeal.

(2.) To take grip of the situation the basic common fact be well settled. All the petitioners have been convicted under different provisions of the Act. They all seek suspension of the sentence by invoking the provisions of S. 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The objection of the learned counsel for the State is that sentence cannot be suspended during pendancy of the appeal in terms of specific provision of the Act.

(3.) The law started taking shape with the Amendment Act (2 of 1989). Certain provisions of the Act were amended or substituted. S. 37 of the Act reads as under:-