Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Act, 2001 - Amendment of section 68A

31.  Amendment of section 68A.

            In section 68A of the principal Act, in sub-section (2) –

            (i)   in clause (a), for the word "five", the word  "ten" shall be substituted;

            (ii)  after clause  (c), the following clause shall be inserted, namely –

                        (cc) every person who has been arrested or against whom a warrant or authorisation of arrest has been issued for the commission of an offence punishable under this Act with imprisonment for a term of ten years or more, and every person who has been arrested or against whom a warrant or authorisation of arrest has been issued for the commission of a similar offence under any corresponding law of any other country;

            (iii)  in clauses (d), (e) and (f), after the word, brackets and letter "clause  (c)", the words, brackets and letters "or clause (cc)"  shall be inserted.

32. Amendment of section 68B.

            In section 68B of the principal Act, in clause (g), in sub-clause (i), for the words "illicit traffic", the words "the contravention of any provisions of this Act" shall be substituted.

33. Amendment of section 68C.

            In section 68C of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), for the proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely –

            Provided that no property shall be forfeited under this Chapter if such property was acquired, by a person to whom this Act applies, before a period of six years from the date he was arrested or against whom a warrant or authorisation of arrest has been issued for the commission of an offence punishable under this Act or from the date the order or detention was issued, as the case may be.

34. Amendment of section 68E.

            In section 68E of the principal Act, for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely –

            (1) Every officer empowered under section 53 and every officer-in-charge of a police station shall, on receipt of information is satisfied that any person to whom this Chapter applies holds any illegally acquired property, he may, after recording reasons for doing so, proceed to take all steps necessary for tracing and identifying such property.
 
36. Amendment of section 68-I.

            In section 68-I of the principal Act, after sub-section (3), the following proviso shall be inserted, at the end, namely –

            Provided that no illegally acquired property of any person who is referred to in clause (cc) of sub-section (2) of section 68A or relative of a person referred to in that clause or associate of a person referred to in that clause or holder of any property which was at any time previously held by a person referred to in that clause shall stand forfeited.

37.  Amendment of section 68-O.

            In section 68-O of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), for the words "Any person aggrieved by an order of the competent authority", the words, brackets, figures and letter "Any officer referred to in sub-section (1) of section 68E or any person aggrieved by an order of the competent authority" shall be substituted. 
 
38.  Insertion of new section 68Z.

        After section 68Y of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely –

            68Z. Release of property in certain cases.

                        (1) Where the detention order of a detent is set aside or withdrawn, properties seized or frozen under this Chapter shall stand released.

                        (2)  Where any person referred to in clause (a) or clause (b) or clause (cc) of sub-section (2) of section 68A has been acquitted or discharged from the charges under this Act or any other corresponding law of any other country and the acquittal was not appealed against or when appealed against, the appeal was disposed of as a consequence of which such property could not be forfeited or warrant of arrest or authorisation of arrest issued against such person has been withdrawn, then, property seized  or  frozen under  this  Chapter  shall  stand released.

 39.  Amendment of section 76.

            In section 76 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), after clause (c), the following clause shall be inserted, namely –

            (ca)   the manner in which "controlled delivery" under section 50A is to be undertaken;

 40.  Amendment of section 77.

            In section 77 of the principal Act, for the portion beginning with the words "Every rule made under this Act" and ending with "shall be laid, as soon as may be, after it is made or issued", the following shall be substituted, namely –

            "Every rule made under this Act by the Central Government and every notification or order issued under clause (viia), clause (xi), clause (xxiiia) of section 2, section 3, section 7A, section 9A and clause (a) of section 27 shall be laid, as soon as may be, after it is made or issued".

 41. Application of this Act to pending cases.

            (1)   Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2) of section 1, all cases pending before the courts or under investigation at the commencement of this Act  shall  be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of  the principal Act as amended by this Act and accordingly, any person found guilty of any offence punishable under the principal Act, as it stood immediately before such commencement, shall be liable for a punishment which is lesser than the punishment for which he is otherwise  liable at the date of the commission of such offence: 

                    Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to cases pending in appeal.

            (2)    For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that no act or omission on the part of any person shall be punishable as an offence which would not have been so punishable if this Act has not come into force.