Government issues new guidelines for grant of rewards to be paid to officers, informers and other persons in case of seizures of Narcotics drugs,

The Government of India has issued new reward guidelines called "The guidelines for grant of rewards to be paid to the officers, informers and other persons, 2017" on October 10, 2017 to regulate the grant and payment of reward to informers and government officers.

As per this policy, an officer is eligible for Rs. 20,00,000/- reward during his entire career and Rs. 50,000/- at a time. However a maximum reward of Rs. 2,00,000/- may also be given to an individual in exceptional cases by the Apex Central Rewards Committee. Up to 50% of the total admissible reward amount can be given at pre-trial stage if the test report from chemical lab turns positive. As per this policy, the reward sanctioning authority should also consider the factors while granting reward to informers, like accuracy of the information, degree of risk involved, extent and nature of the help rendered by the informer and whether the information also gave clues of the person involved in the drug trafficking racket. Narcotics Control Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs has been made the coordinating agency to process the reward proposal of other Central and State agencies working in the field of drug interdiction.

While formulating the Reward Guidelines, 2017, the Government of India has also laid down the following principles:-

· Reward should not be granted as a matter of routine.

· Criteria for grant of reward to informers have been prescribed.

· Provision for special efforts made by the government officials in developing the information, effecting the seizure and post seizure investigation.

· It also excludes any work done by an individual officer in his normal course of duties.

As per the new guidelines, the reward scheme will be made applicable to -

· Informers whose information leads to seizures of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, Controlled substances, forfeiture of illegally acquired property under chapter V A of NDPS Act and contravention of rules made there under, which is booked by any Central and State agencies.

· Officers of Central / State / UTs Government empowered under the provisions of the NDPS Act, 1985 who make seizures, successful investigation/prosecution and conduct post investigation work in respect of contravention of provisions of NDPS Act, 1985.

· Officials of other Central / State / UTs Government who assisted in detecting the contravention of the provisions of the NDPS Act, 1985, Rules or order made there under.

The new reward guideline has not only included new drugs/ psychotropic substances in the revised reward policy but also increased the rate of reward of the seized drug. The revised reward scheme has increased the quantum of reward as per the following tables (I & II):-

Sl. No.

Commodity

Proposed rate of maximum reward (Rs. Per Kg.)

Prescribed Purity

1.

Opium

6,000/-

Standard Opium

2.

Morphine base and its Salts

20,000/-

90% or more of anhydrous morphine

3.

Heroin and its salts

1,20,000/-

90% or more of diacetyl morphine

4.

Cocaine and its salts

2,40,000/-

90% or more of anhydrous cocaine

5.

Hashish

2,000/-

With THC content of 4% or more

6.

Hashish Oil

10,000/-

With THC content of 20% or more

7.

Ganja

600/-

Should be commercially acceptable as Ganja.

8.

Mandrax Tablets

2000/-

Presence of Methaqualone

9.

Amphetamine, its salts and preparations thereof

20,000/-

100% pure ATS with pro rata reduction for reduced purity

10.

Methamphetamine, its salt and preparation thereof

20,000/-

100% pure ATS with pro rata reduction for reduced purity

11.

Ecstasy or 3,4- Meththylene dioxy methamphetamine (MDMA)

15,000/1,000 tablets

Presence of MDMA

12.

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)/

30 Rs/ Blot

Presence of LSD

13.

Destruction of Illicit Opium Poppy Crop

Rs 10,000 per hectare

14.

Destruction of Illicit Cannabis Crop

Rs 10,000 per hectare

15.

Poppy Straw

240 (20% of the present street price)

N.B. (i) For the SI No. 13 and 14 the maximum reward will be computed for entire team and not an individual officer.

(ii) Rewards shall be reduced pro-rate if the purity is less than the one prescribed above.

Rates of Reward in respect of controlled /psychotropic substances, etc. seized under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985

Sl.

No.

Commodity (Controlled/ psychotropic substances/ synthetic drugs)

Rate of Maximum reward

Prescribed purity

1.

Ephedrine, its salts and preparations thereof

Rs. 280/- Per Kg

100%

2.

Pseudo-ephedrine, its salts and preparations thereof

Rs. 480/-per Kg

100%

3.

Acetic Anhydride

Rs. 10/- per liter

100%

4.

Ketamine, its salts and preparations thereof

Rs. 700/- per Kg

100%

5.

Anthranillic Acid

Rs. 45/- Per Kg

100%

6.

N-acetyl Anthranillic acid

Rs. 80/- Per Kg

100%

7.

Diazepam and its preparations

Rs. 0.53/- per tablet of 5mg

100%

8.

Alprazolam and its preparations

Rs.0.20/- per tablet of 5mg

100%

9.

Lorezepam and its preparations

Rs. 0.296/- per tablet of 5mg

100%

10.

Alprax and its preparations

Rs. 0.52/- per tablet of 5mg

100%

11.

Buprenorphine/ Tidigesic and its preparations

Rs.25,000/- per Kg

100%

12.

Dextropropoxyphene, its salts and preparations thereof

Rs.2,880/- per Kg

100%

13.

Fortwin and its preparations

Rs.1.044/- per vial of 30mg

100%

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