A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice C Jayachandran had expressed deep concern over the delay in establishing the three NDPS courts as directed earlier
Kochi: The state govt has informed the high court that it will resolve issues regarding the appointment of permanent staff for the two newly sanctioned NDPS courts at Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam by Sept 10.
The court remarked that the matter had been pending before the govt for a considerable period and directed the state to furnish a comprehensive affidavit by the next posting date, Sept 17, detailing the steps taken to establish the new courts and appoint permanent staff for the special NDPS courts. Regarding the central govt’s grant for the establishment of additional NDPS courts in the state, the deputy solicitor general, on instructions, submitted that a meeting had been convened on July 7 with representatives of the state govt and the HC, during which the Union home secretary emphasised the need for states to utilise the scheme of the department of justice for establishing special NDPS courts. He further submitted that steps would also be taken to establish three additional NDPS courts at Palakkad, Thrissur and Malappuram as per the court’s previous directives. Accordingly, the court directed the state govt to include in the affidavit the steps taken by the state in this regard.
Advocate general K Jaju Babu made the submission before the court in a suo motu case initiated over the high pendency of NDPS cases in the state. The submissions came after a bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice C Jayachandran expressed deep concern over the delay in establishing the three NDPS courts as directed earlier.