Nearly 400,000 drug cases are sitting in Indian courtrooms right now, waiting for a hearing. In 22 states, there isn’t a single courtroom dedicated to hearing them.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has directed every state and Union Territory to establish exclusive Special Courts under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, aiming to clear a backlog that’s climbed to roughly 3.96 lakh pending cases nationwide.
The Scale of the Problem
A Narcotics Control Bureau review laid the problem bare: only 65 exclusive narcotics courts are currently functioning across the entire country, while 22 states have none at all. The mismatch between that thin judicial infrastructure and the case volume flowing into it has been building for years — registered NDPS cases jumped from about 1.73 lakh between 2004 and 2014 to roughly 8.75 lakh between 2014 and 2026, alongside a similar surge in arrests.
Where the Backlog Is Worst
The pressure is concentrated in a handful of states. Punjab, with an estimated 60,000 pending cases, currently has zero dedicated NDPS courts and has been advised to set up five, in cities including Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Amritsar. Kerala, sitting on roughly 50,000 pending cases with just two exclusive courts, is under direct pressure from its High Court — which has already ordered courts in five additional districts. Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal each carry backlogs in the 11,000-17,000 range with no dedicated courts at all, while Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, despite having some existing courts, are being pushed to add more.
Why Cases Are Piling Up
Officials point to a specific bottleneck behind the delays: Forensic Science Laboratory reports. NDPS trials can’t move forward without chemical testing confirming what was seized, and slow FSL turnaround has become one of the single biggest drivers of multi-year case pendency. The Centre’s response includes pushing mandatory pre-trial conferences and firmer timelines for lab reports, alongside direct coordination meetings between MHA, the NCB, and High Court registrars to clear administrative logjams.
A Bigger Anti-Drug Push
The court push sits inside a broader three-year strategy under the government’s “Drug-Free India” goal. Home Minister Amit Shah has framed the approach as “top to bottom” — targeting kingpins, financiers, and trafficking networks rather than focusing enforcement on low-level users. Shah recently noted that drug seizures by value have climbed sharply, from roughly ₹40,000 crore between 2004 and 2014 to about ₹1,84,000 crore between 2014 and 2026, describing India’s position between major global trafficking routes as an ongoing challenge that traffickers keep adapting around.
What Happens Next
States have been pointed toward existing central funding mechanisms, including the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment, to help finance new court infrastructure. With the Supreme Court and multiple High Courts already applying pressure of their own — Kerala’s among the most direct — the timeline for states to act is likely to keep tightening rather than ease up.
