- (1.) THE petitioner has approached this Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short "the Code") for grant of remissions under Chapter XIX of the New Punjab Jail Manual, 1996 and remissions announced by the Governor of Punjab under various circulars issued in exercise of power under Article 161 of the Constitution of India during period of conviction and confinement of the petitioner in jail. Counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner was an accused in case FIR No.41 dated 27.3.2005 for offence punishable under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short "the Act"), registered at Police Station, Sadar Moga. He faced trial and was convicted and sentenced by the trial court of rigorous imprisonment for a period of 12 years and fine of Rs. 1,25,000/ - by Special Judge, Moga vide judgment dated 30.7.2007. The appeal preferred by the petitioner against his conviction and sentence was decided by this Court on 16.11.2009 whereby the sentence awarded to the petitioner was reduced to 10 years and fine to Rs. 1,00,000/ -
(2.) THE petitioner is in custody since the date of registration of FIR on 27.3.2005. The State Government has granted remissions from time to time to the convicts under Article 161 of the Constitution of India but the petitioner has been denied benefit of remissions on the premise that he has been convicted under the Act.
(3.) COUNSEL further argues that in similar set of circumstances, this Court vide order dated 12.1.2012 passed in CRM -M - 36008 of 2011 (Annexure P -2) granted benefit of remissions and released the accused in terms of decision in CRM -M -23990 of 2011 (Sukhdev Singh Vs. State of Punjab) (Annexure P -3) wherein the accused were also convicted in cases under the Act. It is further submitted that the petitioner also preferred CRM -M - 10675 of 2012 which was disposed of in terms of Annexures P -2 and P -3, the orders passed in the aforementioned criminal miscellaneous petitions. It is further argued that the respondents failed to consider the case of the petitioner in view of order passed by this Court in the case of Ajaib Singh vs. State of Punjab and others (Annexure R -3) despite the fact that the special leave to appeal filed before Hon'ble the Supreme Court of India against judgment in Ajaib Singh's case was dismissed on 10.5.2012. Counsel representing the official respondents has submitted that the petitioner was convicted for offence punishable under Section 15 of the Act on 30.7.2007 by the learned trial court. The judgment in Ajaib Singh's case clearly refers to the fact that when the circular was issued in the year 2006 i.e. 15.6.2006 for grant of special remissions, it was specifically mentioned therein that benefit of special remissions under the said circular will not be given to the convicts who are undergoing imprisonment under the Act. It was further noticed therein that after 2006, no circular was issued in which benefit of special remissions was given to any convict under the Act. It is argued with vehemence that after conviction of the petitioner, no circular was issued by the State of Punjab whereby benefit of remissions was made available to the convicts under the Act. As the petitioner was not a convict at the time when various circulars were issued by the Governor of Punjab in exercise of power under Article 161 of the Constitution of India dated 12.8.1998, 8.4.1999, 13.4.2001, 14.8.2002, 14.8.2003, 9.7.2004 and 15.11.2005 granting remissions to the prisoners convicted by the court of criminal jurisdiction in the State of Punjab and confined in jails, the petitioner cannot entitle himself to the benefit of those circulars.;