KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday deplored that it was facing immense workload as the provincial authorities have yet to establish special courts for control of narcotic substances in the province.

A two-judge constitutional bench of the SHC comprising Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha and Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon directed the chief secretary of Sindh, provincial law minister and secretary excise, taxation & narcotics control department to set up these courts and appoint judges within two weeks.

It was hearing a petition filed by Babar Ali, alias Deputy, through his lawyer seeking post-arrest bail in a case lodged against him at the Model Colony police station under the Sindh Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 2024.

The bench noted that currently the SHC was overwhelmed with hundreds of bail applications due to the Sindh Control of Narcotic Substances Act 2024 as it barred the trial courts from granting bails.

Constitutional bench remarks hundreds of bail pleas are pending after trial courts were barred from granting relief

However, it stated that no specialised courts or judges had been appointed yet to handle these cases. This crucial gap means accused individuals have little chance of being granted bail, it added.

The bench in its order also said, “To rectify this, the Chief Secretary Sindh, Law Minister and Secretary Excise, Taxation & Narcotics Control Department Government of Sindh, are hereby directed to ensure the establishment of designated courts and the appointment of special judges under this Act within two weeks. Their failure to comply is creating an immense workload for the High Court”.

The provincial assembly had passed the Sindh CNS Act in September last year repealing the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997 to the extent of Sindh.

On May 2, the same bench also ordered the provincial government to immediately establish such courts and appoint presiding officers across the province while deciding an identical petition filed by actor Sahir Hasan seeking post-arrest bail in a drug case lodged under the same law.

The SHC had noted that as per Section 35 of the provincial law for control of narcotic substances, no bail was to be granted in respect of such kind of offences and Sections 496 and 497of the criminal procedure code, which deal with grant of bail in bailable and non-bailable offences by sessions courts, had been removed.

The bench had also observed that the government had not even appointed any presiding officer to act as judge of the special court while Section 30 of the act clearly laid down the mechanism for establishing such special courts and appointing judges.

It may be recalled here that the Sindh cabinet in its meeting held last week approved a proposal to set up special anti-narcotics courts to deal with a staggering 9,676 narcotics cases in Sindh, including 7,769 pending in Karachi Division alone.

The cabinet had decided to establish three courts in Karachi, and one each in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas divisions to streamline the judicial process and ensure that justice is served swiftly in the face of increasing demand.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2025