Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985  - Section 23 , Section 29

Illegal import - Psychotropic substances - Trial Court passed conviction order - On appeal - HC by impugned order set aside conviction order passed by Trial Court - Hence instant appeal - Held, submission made by respondent on construction of s. 23 of the Act, expression 'tranships' occurring therein must necessarily be understood as suggested by respondent was agreed by Court - There was another reason apart from construction of language of s. 23 which compels us to accept submission made by respondent - S. 9(1)(a)(vii) also employs expression transshipment - Central Govt. was authorized to make rules which might permit and regulate various activities such as cultivation, gathering, production, possession, sale, transport, inter-state import or export of various substances like coca leaves, poppy straw, opium poppy and opium derivatives etc., while parliament used expression transport in context of inter-state import or export of such material, in context of importing to India and export out of India, Parliament employed expression transshipment in s. 9(i)(a)(vii) - HC rightly concluded that conviction of respondent u/s. 23 of the Act could not be sustained - Appeal dismissed.

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