States » NorthPosted at: Oct 31 2026 9:17PM


Punjab to set up 35 special drug courts, 52,000 cases pending for trial

Neeraj Bali Chandigarh, Oct 31 - The Bhagwant Mann government on Saturday approved the setting up of 35 exclusive special courts to expedite the proceedings under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, as over 52,000 drug-related cases are pending in the courts of Punjab and the trials take an average of eight years to complete.
The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The move comes amid mounting pressure on the state’s judicial system as the number of fresh drug cases continues to outnumber their disposal.
Punjab sees about 20,000 cases under the NDPS Act each year, leading to approximately 27,000 arrests, data released by the Chief Minister’s Office showed. Sessions courts get about 12,000 cases every year but are able to dispose of only 5,700 cases annually.
As on August 31, 2026, there were as many as 52,577 pending NDPS cases across the state.
The government has admitted that the increasing backlog has led to the average time taken to dispose of such cases being about eight years. This has given rise to concerns about prolonged trials and the effectiveness of the judicial response to drug trafficking.
The Chief Minister’s Office said that Punjab was facing a serious challenge of drug trafficking and abuse, with about 20,000 NDPS cases registered and about 27,000 arrests made in the state every year.
The decision comes in the wake of the assessment made by the Registrar General of the Punjab and the Haryana High Court that there is a need to have more dedicated courts to tackle the rising pendency in the next five to seven years.
The Cabinet has approved setting up 35 exclusive special NDPS courts in the first phase and creating 385 posts to make them functional.
This includes 35 additional District and Sessions Judges, 35 Assistant District Attorneys, and 315 support staff.
The government has pegged the expenditure at around Rs 75 crore, including infrastructure costs.
Till the time the newly approved courts become fully functional, the existing designated courts will continue to hear the NDPS cases so that the ongoing proceedings are not disrupted during the transition.
The proposed courts would be expected to handle only drug cases. This would free up judges and prosecutors to focus more on proceedings that now have to vie for judicial time with other criminal matters.
The government also expects that the arrangement will increase the availability and use of official witnesses, who often appear in court frequently and whose scheduling can delay criminal trials.
But the success of the initiative will depend largely on the speed with which the new courts are made operational, judges and supporting staff are appointed, and adequate infrastructure is made available.
The Cabinet announcement did not mention the deadline for setting up the courts or a district-wise breakdown of the proposed facilities.
The scale of the challenge is still large. The current system has a huge gap between incoming cases and completed trials, with nearly 20,000 new cases registered every year and only around 5,700 cases disposed of.
“The government hopes that the specialized courts will help to close that gap while addressing the accumulated backlog in the coming years.
The move is part of the Mann government’s broader campaign against drug trafficking, although the actual impact on case disposal and conviction rates would only be known once the courts start functioning.
UNI NB
Tags: #Punjab to set up 35 special drug courts# 52#000 cases pending for trial
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