minal Appeal No 189 of 1965
151 Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated September 22 1965 of the Patna High Court in Government Appeal No 40 of 1962 with Cr Revision No 122 of 1963
A section R Chari Surendra Prasad and D Gobardhun for the appellants
R K Garg for D P Singh for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Bachawat J
Nine persons were tried for various offences by the 3rd Assistant Sessions Judge Patna
The Judge acquitted Ramnath and Madan of all the charges
He convicted Sheonath Matukdeo and Sarjoo under sec
353 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to pay a fine of Rs 1000 each or in default to suffer imprisonment for six months
He convicted Satnarayan Billat Gullat and Bishwanath under sec
353 read with sec
149 and sentenced them to pay a fine of Rs 200 each or in default to suffer simple imprisonment of three months
He convicted all of them under sec
147 but did not pass a separate sentence under it
He acquitted all of them of the charge under sec
The State of Bihar filed an appeal and a revision petition for enhancement of the sentence
The High Court allowed the appeal and revision petition in part
It convicted Sheonath Matukdeo and Sarjoo under sec
395 and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years each enhanced the sentences already imposed on them under sec
353 by adding a sentence of two years rigorous imprisonment against each of them and directed that the substantive sentences of imprisonment would run concurrently
It convicted Satnarayan Billat and Gullat of offences under sec
395 and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year each enhanced the sentences imposed upon them under sec
153149 by adding sentences of one years rigorous imprisonment against each of them and directed that the substantive sentences of imprisonment would run concurrently
It acquitted Bishwanath of all the charges
Sheonath Matukdeo Sarjoo Satnarayan Billat and Gullat have filed this appeal after obtaining special leave from this Court
The courts below have found the following facts  Maheshwar Datta Sharma was the Superintendent of Commercial Taxes Intelligence Branch exercising the powers of Assistant Supdt
of Sales Tax
He received information that the firm of Mohanlal Sitaram was maintaining incorrect account books at its secret gaddi at Adrakhghat Marufganj in Patna City
In the afternoon of May 7 1959 he with a party of officers and inspectors of the Sales Tax Department raided the premises
After posting guards at the entrance and with the rest of the party he went upstairs 
In the eastern room he found the munims Sarjoo Prasad  152 and Matukdeo writing books of account
On an examination of the books of account and papers he found that double sets of books of account with discrepant and incorrect entries were being maintained with a view to evasion of sales tax
He seized the books and papers and packed them in a gunny bag
A seizure list was prepared
A copy of the list was offered to Matukdeo who refused to accept it
In the meantime a mob with the common intention of snatching away the seized books of account came upstairs
At the sight of the mob Sharma and some members of the party bolted the door of the closed verandah
Gullat Bill at and Satnarayan and other members of the mob attempted to break open the door of the verandah
Sharma and his party then went inside the central room with the bag containing the seized accounts books and bolted the door from inside
The mob broke open a door of the eastern room and went inside to the central room
There Sheonath Matukdeo and Ramnath snatched away the bag from the possession of Sharma
It may be mentioned that Sheonath was the proprietor of the firm
These findings of fact are not challenged by Mr Chari
The courts below found that the inspection search and seizure were made by Sharma in the exercise of his powers under sec
17 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act 1947
Mr Chari attacked this finding
He contended that 1 the power of inspection seizure and search under sec
17 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act can be exercised only in a place of business declared by the dealer under the Act and the Rules and as the Gaddi at Adrakhghat was not such a place of business the inspection search and seizure were illegal and 2 that Sharma made the search and seizure in the course of an investigation of a cognizable offence and as there was contravention of section 1654 read with section 103 of the Criminal Procedure Code the search and seizure were illegal
He also pleaded for the mitigation of the sentences
Our attention was drawn to the relevant provisions of the Bihar Sales Tax Act 1947 and the Bihar Sales Tax Rules 1949
Section
17 of the Act reads 
Production and inspection of accounts and documents and search of premises  1 The Commissioner may subject to such conditions as may be prescribed require any dealer to produce before him any accounts or documents relevant to the financial transactions of a dealer including accounts or documents relatto profits derived from the business of any firm or to furnish any information relating to the stocks of goods of or purchases sales and 153 deliveries of goods by the dealer as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act
2 All accounts registers and documents relating to the stocks of goods of or purchases sales
and deliveries of goods by any dealer and all goods kept in any place of business 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 the payment of any tax due from him under this Act he may for reasons to be recorded in writing seize such accounts registers or documents of the dealer as may be 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 purposes of sub section 2 or subsection 3 the Commissioner may enter and search any place of business of any dealer
 Section 3 empowers the State Government to appoint any person to assist the Commissioner of Sales Tax
Section 9 provides for registration of dealers
Section  It provides for publication of the list registered dealers
Section 18 authorises the State Government to delegate the powers of the Commissioners to any officer appointed under sec
3 to assist him
19 requires a registered dealer or any other dealer to whom a notice is served under sec
121 to give information of any change of his place of business or the opening of a new place of business
The maintenance of incorrect accounts is a cognizable offence punishable under sec
261g
Under sec
27 the Commissioner may authorise any person appointed to assist him under sec
3 to investigate offences punishable under the Act
Any person so authorised is required in the conduct of such investigation to exercise the powers conferred by the Criminal Procedure Code upon an officer in charge of a police station for the purpose of investigation of a cognizable offence
Rule 21 defines place of business to mean any place where a dealer sells goods or keeps accounts of sales
Rule 3 provides that an Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax and a Superintendent of Sales Tax may be appointed under sec
31 to assist the Commissioner
Rule 4 provides that an application for registration shall be in Form 1
The proviso to Rule 4 provides that a dealer other than a dealer registered under r 101 having more than one place of business shall make a separate application in respect of every such place
Rule 101 provides for registration of dealers in special circum 10Sup
C I68 11 154 stances
Form I requires the dealer to state the location of the place of business for which the application is made a complete list of warehouses in respect of the place of business and a complete list of other places of business of the dealer for which a separate application has been or will be made
Under Rule 5 a certificate of registration is issued in Form 11
That form gives the location of the place of business and warehouses of the dealer
Rule 11 provide for publication of lists of registered dealers
The lists give the location of their places of business
It is to be noticed that in the application for registration a dealer is required to disclose his place of business
The place of business disclosed by him is mentioned in the certificate of registration and the list of registered dealers
But the Act and the Rules no where say that if he has some other place of business such place cannot be regarded as a place of business
On the contrary rule 21 defines Place of business to mean any place where a dealer sells goods or keeps accounts of sales
The dealer Mohanlal Sitaram kept accounts of sales at his secret gaddi at Adrakhghat
The gaddi was therefore a place of business of the dealer
The Commissioner could inspect the books under section 172 seize them under section 173 and enter and search the place under section 174
The power of the Commissioner under sec
17 was delegated to Sharma under sec
He could therefore lawfully exercise those powers
We see no ground for holding that the power under sec
17 can be exercised only in relation to a place of business declared by the dealer in his application for registration
It is the duty of the dealer to declare all his places of business
If he has more than one place of business he is required to disclose them and to make a separate application for every such place
If he changes the place of business or opens a new one he is required to give information to the prescribed authority
The non disclosure of a place of business does not make that place immune from entry and search under sec
The power under sec
17 can be exercised in relation to any dealer whether registered or unregistered
An unregistered dealer is not exempt from the operation of section 17 though he made no application for registration declaring his place of business
We are of the opinion that the power of inspection seizure and search under sec
17 is not limited to a place of business dec lared by a dealer in his application for registration or otherwise and that it can be exercised in respect of any and every place of business
When a certain place is declared by the dealer as his place of business he cannot be heard to say at a later stage that it is not his place of business
If the Commissioner enters and searches any other place he does so at his own peril
If it turns out that that place is not the place of business of the dealer the Commissioner will be guilty of trespass
155 We are not satisfied that Sharma made the search and seizure in the course of an investigation of a cognizable offence
Sharma stated that he was not authorised by the Commissioner under section 27 to investigate an offence
That is why he did not reduce to writing the information given to him that the dealer was maintaining incorrect accounts and did not require the informant to sign a written information
Only the powers of the Commissioner under sec
17 was delegated to Sharma
In making the inspection search and seizure he was exercising the powers under sec
He was not investigating or dealing with an offence
The provisions of sec
165 4 read with sec
103 of the Criminal Procedure Code were therefore not attracted and he was not required to comply with those provisions
On the question of sentence we find that both the courts have said that the offence of dacoity was a technical one
The appellants did not cause hurt to any member of the raiding party
The appellants have already undergone imprisonments for about a month
We think that the ends of justice will be met by reducing the sentences imposed by the High Court to the periods of imprisonments already undergone by the appellants
In the result the appeal is allowed in part
The convictions of the appellants by the courts below including their convictions by the High Court under sec
395 are affirmed
The sentences under sec
395 and the enhanced sentences in respect of other offences imposed on the appellants by the High Court are reduced to the period of imprisonment already undergone by them
The sentences imposed on the appellants by the 3rd Assistant Sessions Judge Patna are maintained
GC Appeal partly allowed


Summary:
The first appellant s premises were raided by the Superintendent of Commercial Taxes Intelligence Branch exercising the powers of Assistant Superintendent of Sales Tax
He found a duplicate set of accounts being prepared there and took the various account books into his possession
The appellant along with others came and snatched away the bundle containing the account books
The Assistant Sessions Judge as well as the High Court found that the inspection search and seizure had been made by the Superintendent of Commercial Taxes in purported exercise of his powers under section 17 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act 1947
One of the offences charged against the appellants was that of dacoity under section 395 IPC While the Assistant Sessions Judge acquitted the appellants of this offence the High Court convicted them and sentenced them to two years  RI for it
In appeal to this Court it was contended  i that the power of inspection seizure and search under section 17 can be exercised only in a place of business declared by the dealer under the Act and the Rules and as the place from where the accounts books were seized in the present case was not a place so declared the inspection search and seizure were illegal ii that the search was made by the Superintendent in the course of an investigation of a cognizable offence and as there was a contravention of s1654 read with section 103 of the Criminal Procedure Code the search and seizure were illegal iii that the sentences should be mitigated
HELD  i The dealer kept accounts of sales at the place from where they were recovered
Therefore under the definition in section 21 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act the said place was a place of business and could be lawfully searched by the Superintendent under section 17 read with section 18 of the Act
The power of inspection search and seizure under section 17 is not limited to a place of business declared by a dealer in his application for registration or otherwise and it can be exercised in respect of any and every place of business
154 D G iiIn the present case the Superintendent was only exercising powers under section 17 and was not investigating or dealing with any cognizable or other offence
The provisions of section 1654 read with section 103 of the Criminal Procedure Code were therefore not attracted and he was not required to comply with those provisions
155 B C