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TMI Blog1969 (2) TMI 61X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ut a permit as required under law and were liable to be confiscated and that the car was also liable to be confiscated. The Customs Preventive Staff had, therefore, taken the 13 bars of gold and the car into possession. 2.On the 4th September, 1968, Tilak Raj, respondent, brother of Bal Kishan Khanna, made an application in the Court of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, praying that the car seized may be returned to him. The application was opposed on behalf of the Customs Preventive Department. It was pleaded that as the car was liable to be confiscated under section 115(2) of the Customs Act, only Customs Officers had jurisdiction to take proceedings with respect to the car and that as no criminal proceedings had been launched in the Court ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... under section 516(A) or under section 517, Criminal Procedure Code, has not been challenged before me. The only point canvassed was whether the Magistrate has jurisdiction under section 523, Criminal Procedure Code, to order the return of the car on spurdari. Section 523 aforesaid reads :- The seizure by any police officer of property taken under"(1) section 51, or alleged or suspected to have been stolen, or found under circumstances which create suspicion of the commission of any offence, shall be forthwith reported to a Magistrate, who shall make such order as he thinks fit respecting the disposal of such property or the delivery of such property to the person entitled to the possession thereof, or, if such person cannot be ascertaine ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (2) E.L.T. (J 323) (S.C.)] the expression "police officer" used in clause (b) of section 190, Criminal Procedure Code was interpreted to mean, on the scheme of that Code, only a police officer properly so called. The ratio of the decision applies to interpretation of the expression "police officer" used in section 523 Criminal Procedure Code. That expression will mean only a police officer properly so called. The expression will not include Customs Officers though the latter have been invested with some powers of a police officer. 7.A Customs Officer will not come within the ambit of the expression "police officer" as used in section 523, Criminal Procedure Code, even if the expression be interpreted in a broad way so as to include offic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Customs Officer cannot be regarded as a police officer within the meaning of that expression in section 523, Criminal Procedure Code, as he has no power under the Customs Act to submit a charge-sheet under section 173 of the Code, though he is invested with the powers of a police officer regarding arrest and search. The question whether a Customs Officer can be considered as a police officer within the meaning of section 25, Evidence Act, was again considered by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in Criminal Appeal No. 27 of 1967 and other connected appeals. Their Lordships reviewed their previous decisions and came to the conclusion that a Customs Officer was not a police officer within the meaning of that section as he has no power ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n seized by the Customs Preventive Staff and not by the Police. No criminal proceedings have as yet been started with respect to the smuggling of goods. 10.The matter can be looked at from another angle, so far as the jurisdiction of the magistrate to make an order for the disposal of the property seized by the Customs Officer under the provisions of the Customs Act, is concerned. Sub-section (1) of section 104 of the Customs Act empowers certain Customs Officers to arrest a person under certain circumstances. Sub-section (2) of that section provides that every person arrested under sub-section (1) shall without unnecessary delay be taken to a Magistrate. But there is no such obligation on a Customs Officer to produce the property, seized ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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