Crl. Misc. No. M-33666 of 2009 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No. M-33666 of 2009 (O&M) Date of decision: February 16, 2010 Karnail Singh ...Petitioner Versus State of Haryana ...Respondent CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GURDEV SINGH Present: Mr. Praveen Chauhan, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Raja Sharma, AAG, Haryana. GURDEV SINGH, J. Heard. Petitioner, Karnail Singh son of Sh. Devi Ram, has come up with the present petition under Section 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code read with Section 37 (1) (b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') for grant of regular bail in FIR No. 500 dated 8.8.2009 registered at Police Station City Kaithal, under Section 20 of the Act. The accusation against the petitioner is that 1.950 kgs. of charas was recovered from his possession; which is a commercial quantity. This application has been pressed on the ground that no independent witness was associated at the time of recovery and that there was no compliance of the mandatory provision of Section 50 of the Act, as no offer was given to the petitioner for being searched by an independent gazetted officer. Counsel for the petitioner has relied upon Ajay Malik and Crl. Misc. No. M-33666 of 2009 2 others versus State of U.T., Chandigarh 2009 (3) RCR (Criminal) 649. While deciding this application, the merits of the case are not required to be gone into. It is suffice to say that the charas alleged to have been recovered from the possession of the petitioner was a commercial quantity. It will be seen at the time of trial if the offer of search given by the gazetted officer, who was also a member of the raiding party, is illegal offer, within the meaning of Section 50 of the Act or not. Non joining of an independent witness cannot be a ground for releasing the petitioner on bail. No merit. Dismissed at this stage. February 16, 2010 (GURDEV SINGH ) prem JUDGE