Reports also state that the houses with the stored drugs would be supervized by gazetted officers.
Soon the Maharashtra government is set to open 46 storage houses with double locking system for seized drugs across the state to prevent any pilferage of drugs.
These houses will be supervised by a gazetted officer appointed under the supervision of the district collector and the district judge. Also, in a first CCTV cameras will be installed in every store house and a log book would be maintained for every entry and exit.
The decision was taken in a recent meeting held on Thursday by the senior officials of Home department and customs. "Although, we are taking numerous steps to ensure the seized substances remain safe our main emphasis would be on early disposal of these substances. We have proposed the high court to allow us to keep only samples of the seized substances for trial purposes to avoid unnecessary hassle. The High Court, however, is still to take a call on it," said Vijay Satbir Singh, principal secretary, home department.
Sources claim that the storage houses will be ready by the end of August. They would have a vault and a double locking system that would be monitored under CCTV. The move has come in compliance of a SC order passed on a PIL that revealed how tonnes of contraband is lying in the police malkhana without any proper supervision and the same is often stolen and sold in the market.
"Due to non-availability of any designated godown facility with adequate vaults and double lock system, the seized contraband is stored in police maalkhana which is a common storage facility for all kinds of goods and weapons seized in connection with all kinds of offences including those specified by the IPC. This is a totally unhappy and unacceptable situation to say the least," reads the SC judgment.
The SC further expressed its displeasure on not having any credible protection against theft, replacement, pilferage and destruction of the seized drugs on account of the wholly unsatisfactory and unscientific method of storage of drugs and psychotropic substances.
"What is often described by the agencies as "big catch" worth crores of rupees in the international market. What has defied our understanding is the neglect on the part of the Central Government and its agencies and the State Governments in realizing the importance of the storage facilities and in providing for the same to prevent hazardous and at times lethal substances with great potential to do harm to those who use the same from being replaced, pilfered, stolen or siphoned out on account of very poor supervision, control or invigilation over such storage facilities," the court noted.
As per the data furnished in the court, the cumulative effect of the reports submitted by the States and the Central agencies only 16% of the contrabands seized between 2002 to 2012 have been actually disposed of. "What happened to the remaining 84% of such seizures is anybody's guess and if it is still lying in the police malkhana, why has nobody ever bothered to apply for their disposal according to the procedure established by law is hard to fathom," the court said.
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