minal Appeal No 189 of 1967
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated September 4 1967 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Criminal Appeal No 492 of 1964
ASR Chari BP Maheshwari and Sobhag Mal Jain for the appellant
I N Shroff for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Sikri J
In this appeal by special leave the principal question which arises is whether a Sales Tax Inspector inspecting the accounts under the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act 1958 No 2 of 1959 hereinafter referred to as the Act is entitled to remove obstruction to the inspection of account books in other words if he attempts to remove the obstruction is he acting in the execution of his duties as such
The facts are not in dispute
On October 24 1959 Krishan Sahai Sales Tax Inspector PW 1 alongwith Shri N J Warudkar PW 5 and Shri Harikishan Gupta PW 2 went to the shop of the appellant Mangat Rai run under the name and style Mangat Rai Ram Kumar
The officer visited the shop for a surprise check
He informed the appellant that he wanted to inspect his account books
At that time they were in the verandah which is common to the shop of the appellant and the neighbouring shop of Munshiram
It is perhaps best to describe what happened in the words of the Inspector I entered the shop of the accused for inspection and Shri Warudkar entered the shop of Munshiram
The accused Harikishan and myself all three entered the shop of the accused
I and Harikishan sat on the Gadi of the accused and the accused Mangat Ram sat near the iron safe
I asked the accused person to show his account books for inspection
Many account books were kept there
He took out 3 note books of the size of exercise notebooks out of them
I thought he was taking out them for showing the same to me for inspection
In the meantime Dayakishan who is the son of the accused also came into the shop
The accused kept one notebook as it was and he handed over the remaining two note books to his son and asked him to rule away for keeping the same at his house
When the accused was turning the pages of the note book I noticed that it contained accounts therefore suspicion came to my mind and I demanded these note books from that boy for inspection
That boy had the exercise book in his right hand
I tried to snatch away the exercise book by catching hold of 153 his left hand
When I had caught hold of that boy with my left hand the accused caught hold of my right hand and pulled me to the back side by giving me a jerk as a result of which my shirt got torn and the boy ran away
I tried to get separated from the grip of the accused so that I would be able to catch the boy but in the mean time the accused caught hold of my waist with his both the hands and said Do not touch the exercise books
It would be dangerous
 In cross examination it is stated When the accused was turning the pages of both the account books with which the boy was running away I noticed that Business transaction  was written therein
 The Magistrate who tried the case convicted the appellant under section 353 and under section 5061 of the Indian Penal Code
The learned Sessions Judge held that the Sales Tax Inspector had not required the accused to produce those copy books for checking and inspection and as he was not authorised to seize them his attempt to hold the boy and relieve him of the copy books was not in the discharge of his public duty and therefore the accused cannot without doubt be held guilty of an offence under section 353 Indian Penal Code or even 352 Indian Penal Code
 The State filed an appeal under section 417 of the Criminal Procedure Code
The High Court came to the conclusion that the Sales Tax Inspector was certainly within his statutory authority to demand inspection of the copy books kept in the shop and if some of the books were sought to be removed in such clandestine manner it would be idle to contend that the Sales Tax Inspector would have no power to prevent evasion of inspection and commission of an offence in his very presence
In the result the High Court allowed the appeal and convicted Mangat Rai under section 353 and section 5061 and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for four months on each count the sentences to run concurrently
The learned counsel for the appellant Mr Chari contends that the Act contemplates voluntary submission to inspection and that there cannot be any forcible inspection of accounts
He says that if there is any obstruction to inspection it may be punishable under section 46h of the Act but the Sales Tax Inspector cannot do anything to forcibly inspect the accounts
He urges that what has happened in this case is an attempt on the part of the Sales Tax Inspector to exercise the powers under section 29 3 of the Act and it is common ground that the Sales Tax Inspector did not have power to act under section 293
Sup CI 70 11 154 In order to appreciate the arguments of the learned counsel it is necessary to set out the relevant provisions of the Act and the Rules
Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act section 29
Production and inspection of accounts and documents and search of premises
1The Commissioner may subject to such conditions as may be prescribed require any dealer to produce before him any accounts registers or documents relevant to the financial transactions of a dealer including accounts registers or documents relating to profits derived from the business of any firm or to
furnish any information relating to the stock of goods of the dealer or purchases sales or deliveries of goods made by him as may be necessary for the purpose of this Act
2 All accounts registers and documents relating to the stocks of goods of any dealer or to purchases sales or deliveries of goods made by him and all goods kept in any place of business or warehouse of any dealer shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection by the Commissioner
3 If the Commissioner has reason to suspect that any dealer is attempting to evade payment of any tax he may for reasons to be recorded in writing seize such accounts registers or documents of the dealer as he may consider necessary and shall grant a receipt for the same and shall retain the same only for so long as may be necessary for examination thereof or for a prosecution
4 For the purpose of sub section 2 or subsection3 the Commissioner may enter and search any place of business or where house of any dealer Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Rules 54
Notice of inspection
Unless the inspecting officer in his discretion deems it necessary to make a surprise visit he shall give reasonable notice in writing to the dealer of his intention to inspect the accounts registers documents or stocks of goods of such dealer and in fixing the date time and place for the purpose 155 shall as far as possible have due regard to the convenience of the dealer
Retention of seized books of accounts registers and documents
If the inspecting officer seizes any books of accounts or documents under section 29 he shall give a written acknowledgement of the same specifying in brief the articles so seized
He shall not without recording in writing the reasons retain them for more than twenty one days
 A similar section was construed by this Court in Commissioner of Commercial Taxes vs Ramkishan Shrikishan Jhaver1
The section which came up for interpretation was section 41 2 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act 1 of 1959 which reads as follows 412
All accounts registers records and other documents maintained by a dealer in the course of his business the goods in his possession and his offices shops godowns vessels or vehicles shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times by such officer Provided that no residential accommodation not being a place of business cure residence shall be entered into and searched by such officer except on the authority of a search warrant issued by a Magistrate having jurisdiction over the area and all searches under this sub section shall so far as may be be made in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 Central Act 5 of 1898
 The contention of the respondent in that case was that the provisions did not authorise search of premises but merely provided for inspection thereof at all reasonable times by the empowered officer
This Court observed Though therefore the word search  has not been used in sub section 2 these two powers of entering the offices etc for inspection and of inspecting every kind of account maintained by a dealer with respect to his business together amount to giving the officer concerned the powers to enter and search the offices etc and if he finds any account in the offices shops etc to inspect them
Otherwise we can see no sense in the legislature giving power to the empowered officer to enter the offices etc for the purpose of inspection as the officer concerned would only do so for the purpose 1  671
156 of finding out all accounts etc maintained by the dealer and if necessary to inspect them for the purposes of the Act
We cannot therefore agree with the High Court that there is no power of search whatsoever in sub section 2 because the sub section in terms does not provide for search
Similarly the officer has been given the power to inspect the goods in the possession of the dealer
He has also the power to enter the dealer s offices etc for the purpose of such inspection
Combining these two powers together it follows on the same reasoning that the officer has the power to search for the goods also and to inspect them it found in the offices of the dealer
We have therefore no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the power of search is implicit in subsection 2 with reference both to the accounts etc
maintained by the dealer and the goods in the possession of the dealer
 We have referred to the above case which was not cited at the bar in order to show that there is no rule that provisions like this should be construed very strictly
In the present Act there is a special provision section 294 which enables the Commissioner to enter and search any place of business or wherehouse of any dealer for the purpose of sub section 2 of section 29
If the powers under sub sections
2 and 4 are read together it would mean that the Commissioner is entitled to search for the account books even if the assessee does not place the account books before him
If the Commissioner searches and takes hold of account books for the purposes of inspection it is difficult to say that he is seizing the account books within the meaning of sub section
3 of section 29
Search for inspection implies taking possession of the account books for the purpose of inspection
In the Act seizure  means something different because here seizure means that the Commissioner would take into possession the account books and take them outside the possession of the assessee
The learned counsel referred to us the decision of this Court in Hazari Lal vs State of Bihar1 where this Court observed In our opinion merely holding books found lying in the premises for perusing them cannot properly be regarded as seizure because seizure implies doing something over and above holding an article in one s hand
According to Shorter Oxford Dictionary seizure among other things means   confiscation or forcible taking possession land or goods a sudden and forcible taking hold  As already stated Mr Singh 1 1963 Supp 1 SCR 419 425  157 merely picked up the books which were lying in the shop and did not snatch them away from anyone nor did he take them by force
On the contrary they were taken away by force by the appellant
If indeed he had retrieved them by force it may have been possible to urge that latter act of his amounts to seizure
 In our opinion the last sentence quoted above is an abiter and we must examine the question independently whether the attempt made by the Sales Tax Inspector in this case to take possession of the account books from the hands of the appellant s son amounts to seizure or does it amount only to an attempt to enforce his right of inspection
It seems to us that if we were to accept the contention of the learned counsel for the appellant we would be nullifying the power of inspection and search contained in section 292 and 4 of the Act
Any assessee who does not want to show any particular book or if he finds that the Sales Tax Inspector has got hold of a book which might prove damaging to his case the assessee could snatch away or ask his clerk or son or relation to snatch away the book and run away leaving the Sales Tax Inspector helpless to do anything in the matter
In our view the Sales Tax Inspector having seen the two books in the hands of the assessee was entitled to demand that they be shown to him and if he did forcibly try to take possession of them it cannot be said that he attempted to seize the account books within the meaning of section 293 for the object was not to dispossess the trader but to hold the books for a temporary period for the purpose of inspection
If section 294 authorises him to search business premises for the purpose of inspection it implies that he can get hold of the books in respect of the business of the assessee
As observed by this Court in MP Sharma vs Satish Chandra1 these powers are given to the Sales Tax Inspector for the protection of social security
This Court observed that a power of search and seizure is in any system of jurisprudence an overriding power of the State for the protection of social security and that power is necessarily regulated by law The learned counsel urges that the appellant was entitled to exercise his right of private defence of the person of his son
We are unable to sustain this contention
The son was clearly committing an offence under section 46h of the Act and in these circumstances we are unable to appreciate how any question of private defence arises
1   1096
158 In our view the Sales Tax Inspector was acting in execution of his duty as a Sales Tax Inspector and the appellant used criminal force against the Sales Tax Inspector
Further he intended to deter the Sales Tax Inspector and prevent him from discharging his duty as a public servant
In the result the appeal fails and is dismissed
RKPS Appeal dismissed


Summary:
Section 29 sub section 2 of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act provides in part that all accounts relating to the stock in trade of any dealer shall be
open to inspection by the Commissioner and for this purpose sub section 4 empowers the Commissioner to search any place of business of the dealer
The Sales Tax Inspector visited the shop of the appellant fox a surprise check and wanted to inspect his account books
When the Inspector tried to prevent removal of the books in a clandestine manner by forcibly taking possession of them the appellant used criminal force and was subsequently convicted under sections 353 and 5061 IPC
In appeal to this Court it was contended that the Act did not authorise forcible inspection of accounts and that the Inspector was exercising powers of seizure under section 293 of the Act which he did not have
HELD Dismissing the appeal If the powers under sub section 2 and 4 are
read together it would mean that the Commissioner is entitled to search and take hold of the account books even if the assessee does not place the account books before him
If the Commissioner does so he cannot be said to seize the account books
In the Act seizure means that the Commissioner should take into possession the account books and take them outside the possession of the assessee
156 E G In the present case the Sales Tax Inspector having seen the account books in the hands of the assessee was entitled to demand that the account books be shown to
him and if he did forcibly try to take possession of them he was only attempting to enforce his right of inspection
He cannot be said to have attempted to seize the account books within the meaning of section 293 for the object was not to dispossess the trader but to hold the books for a temporary period for the purpose of inspection
157 E F The observation contra in Hazari Lal vs State of Bihar 1962 Supp 
SCR 419 at 425 held obiter Commissioner of Commercial Taxes vs Ramkishan Shrikishan Jhovar  671 and NP Sharma vs Satish Chandra   1096 referred  to