Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, amid protests by the Opposition over what they called “retrospective effect” to the amendments in a criminal law and misuse of the Act. The NDPS (Amendment) Bill, 2021, moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeks to correct what the government termed a “clerical error”, which was rectified by an ordinance promulgated in September this year and the Bill is to effect that change into the Act. During the debate on the Bill, the Opposition tore into the government, saying the proposed amendment Bill is tantamount to enabling “retrospective effect” which is not allowed in criminal law. In response, Sitharaman cited the Solicitor General’s opinion on the issue and said that retrospective amendments are not allowed in substantive part of criminal law. “It is not substantive, that is why retrospective is allowed,” she said, adding that clarificatory amendments are permitted. The Opposition termed the process violative of Article 20 of the Constitution which guarantees protection to citizens from “double jeopardy”. BJD’s B Mahtab said that the Bill was “illegal” and that it suffers with “incongruity” and contended that the law cannot be amended to include provisions with their “retrospective effect” in criminal cases. “You are making another mistake to correct a mistake committed in the past. It will be challenged in the court of law,” the BJD member said. “If this Bill is accepted in the form in which the government has proposed, Article 20 of Constitution will be redundant. We will open the floodgates of misuse,” Congress leader Manish Tewari said. “This Bill is only to correct the error; to replace the ordinance, and obviously as soon as we do this, we will have to also inform the court that we have corrections through legislation,” Sitharaman said, requesting the House to approve the Bill, which was passed through a voice vote.
