About 350 representatives from the judiciary, administration and the police today called for holding of more such seminars at the district-level.

Concluding the discussion, Justice Swatanter Kumar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court read out resolutions adopted by the gathering which sought an amendment in the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), NDPS Act and other Acts to help reduce acquittals of those booked for smuggling of drugs. Chief Justice A.B. Saharya of the Punjab and Haryana High Court presided over the concluding session today.

Today Karnal's example was also cited where only 19 convictions could take place out of a total of 125 cases registered under the NDPS Act in 1997-98. While 19 of the accused were bailed out due to non-presentation of the challan in time, all the remaining got acquittals.Experts sought amendment in provisions of Section 167 (2) of the CrPC whereby discretion to the courts to condone the delay in presentation of challan could be given while deciding on the bail of the accused.

Besides, an amendment in Section 37, NDPS Act was also sought, thus lifting restrictions on district judges to grant bail to the accused. Punishment of the accused commensurate to the quantity of drugs caught with was also sought.

The programme was jointly organised by the Punjab and Haryana Governments and UT Administration, besides the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association.