Kerala High Court Directs State To Set Up Special NDPS Courts In Three More Districts

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday (27 January) directed the State to constitute Special NDPS Court in three more districts, in addition to the proposed special courts at Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam.

The direction was issued by the division bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice C Jayachandran, which was considering batch of petitions dealing with curbing of drug menace in the State.

In WP(C) 29179/ 2025, a suo motu proceeding initiated by the High Court Registry in respect of setting up NDPS special courts in the State, the Court observed that there is an immediate necessity for the establishment of separate and exclusive NDPS courts in the Districts of Thrissur, Palakkad, and In Manjeri.

Earlier, the Court was informed that only two special NDPS courts are established in Kerala, on each in Kozhikode and Idukki districts. The Court had found this unsatisfactory and has sought the State's stand on establishing Special Courts in every District.

The State has later submitted that it proposes to establish two more additional at Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam.

The Court has expressed dissatisfaction in this proposal, noting that there is immediate necessity for establishment of separate and exclusive NDPS courts in the districts of Thrissur, Palakkad, and Manjeri.

"We are not satisfied with the explanation offered by the 2nd respondent with regard to the compliance of the earlier directions of this Court, as also the implementation of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Thana Singh v. Central Bureau of Narcotics1. Even if we accept the submission made on behalf of the State that the object of the said judgment is to strengthen exclusive NDPS courts in districts with high pendency by ensuring appropriate allocation of cases, the decision of the Government could not have been restricted to additional courts in two districts." Court said.

The Court thus directed the State to take immediate steps to create exclusive NDPS Court with full infrastructure in additional Courts at Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam as well as the three more districts.

It has directed the government to file a compliance report within eight weeks.

In WP(C)16773/2020, it was earlier brought to the attention of the Court that pending vacancies in Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL), is contributing to delays in concluding criminal trials under the NDPS Act.

The State Attorney submitted that 31 posts proposed by the State Police Chief, 12 posts have been created and the remaining 19 posts are pending consideration before the Finance Department.

The Court has directed the State to take steps for filling up the 12 vacancies as sanctioned by the Finance Department. It has also directed the Finance Department to communicate its decision with regard to the remaining posts to the concerned authorities.

The matter is posted on 17 February for further consideration.

Case Title: Suo Motu v State of Kerala and Ors. and connected matters

Case No: WP(C) 29179/ 2025 and connected matters

Click Here To Read/ Download Interim Order in WP(C) 29179/ 2025

Click Here To Read/ Download Interim Order in WP(C)16773/2020