Chandigarh: The Punjab state government has approved a structural overhaul of its legal processing framework for drug-related offenses by establishing 35 specialized NDPS courts. The decision, taken during a Council of Ministers meeting in Chandigarh, targets a reduction in systemic trial delays and seeks to clear thousands of pending cases across district jurisdictions.
The high volume of annual enforcement actions—averaging nearly 12,000 cases reaching trial stage each year against roughly 5,700 resolved—has generated a heavy judicial backlog. The dedicated court infrastructure is designed to optimize government witness scheduling, shorten trial timelines, and enforce stricter judicial resolution for narcotics offenses.
The initiative includes a comprehensive manpower expansion across the state’s legal framework. With 385 newly created positions and dedicated judicial officers assigned exclusively to NDPS matters, local administration aims to streamline evidence evaluation and case disposition across all districts.
