Om Prakash Vs UoI
Offences under the Customs Act and Central Excise Act are Non-Cognizable and bailable; if the person arrested offers bail, he shall be released on bail:
Central Excise Act: the language of the Scheme of Central Excise Act seems to suggest that the main object of the enactment of the said Act was the recovery of excise duties and not really to punish for infringement of its provisions . The introduction of Section 9A into the Central Excise Act by way of amendment reveals the thinking of the legislature that offences under the Act should be non-cognizable and, therefore, bailable. From Part 1 of the First Schedule to the Code, it will be clear that as a general rule all non-cognizable offences are bailable . In view of the provisions of Sections 9 and 9A read with Section 20 of the Central Excise Act, offences under the Central Excise Act, 1944, besides being non-cognizable, are also bailable, though not on the logic that all non-cognizable offences are bailable, but in view of the aforesaid provisions of the Central Excise Act, which indicate that offences under the said Act are bailable in nature.
Customs Act: The provisions of Section 104(3) of the Customs Act, 1962, and Section 13 of the Central Excise Act, 1944, vest Customs Officers and Excise Officers with the same powers as that of a Police Officer in charge of a Police Station, which include the power to release on bail upon arrest in respect of offences committed under the two enactments which are uniformly non-cognizable. Both Section 9A of the Central Excise Act and Section 104(4) of the Customs Act, 1962, provide that notwithstanding anything in the Code of Criminal Procedure, offences under both the Acts would be non-cognizable. Consequently, as in the case of offences under the Central Excise Act, 1944, it is held that offences under Section 135 of the Customs Act, 1962, are bailable and if the person arrested offers bail, he shall be released on bail in accordance with the provisions of sub-Section (3) of Section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962, if not wanted in connection with any other offence.: SUPREME COURT
