Exactly 1 Kg Charas Is Not Commercial Quantity: P&H HC Cuts Convict’s 10-Year Term To Time Served After 25 Years

The appellant was convicted under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (“NDPS Act”), after 1 kg of charas was recovered from him on 15 April 2001.

The trial court sentenced him to ten years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹1,00,000, with two years’ rigorous imprisonment in default of payment.

In appeal, the appellant did not press a challenge to his conviction and sought reduction of sentence, relying on the time already served, the age of the case, and his lack of subsequent prosecutions.

The State opposed sentence reduction.

Section 2(viia) of the NDPS Act defines “commercial quantity” as a quantity greater than the quantity specified by the Central Government by notification.

The applicable notification specified 1 kg as the commercial quantity for charas; accordingly, a quantity exactly equal to 1 kg does not meet the statutory definition of commercial quantity.

The Court also treated the absence of a prescribed minimum sentence for the relevant non-commercial quantity, together with the circumstances of the case, as supporting a reduction of sentence.

The Court held that the recovered 1 kg of charas was exactly—not greater than—the notified threshold, and therefore was not commercial quantity within Section 2(viia).

In considering sentence, it relied on the non-commercial classification, the approximately 25-year interval since the incident, the appellant’s imprisonment of one year, nine months and three days, his status as a first offender, the absence of subsequent prosecutions, and his age of over 49 years.

On that cumulative basis, it found the ten-year sentence harsh and the period already served sufficient to meet the ends of justice.

The appeal was partly allowed.

Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, were disposed of.