Special enactment controls investigation powers where foreign exchange offences require express authorisation and government permission.

The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act operates as a self-contained enforcement code, so investigative powers under the general criminal procedure cannot be used to confer competence on Delhi Special Police Establishment officers unless that statute expressly authorises them. No notification under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act was shown authorising such officers to act as enforcement officers, and offences alleged to have been committed outside India could not be investigated without the Central Government's permission. The refusal to permit investigation was therefore upheld, and the officers were held not competent to investigate in the manner sought.

---

---

Issues: Whether members of the Delhi Special Police Establishment could investigate offences under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act without a separate authorisation under that Act, and whether offences alleged to have been committed outside India could be investigated without the permission of the Central Government.

Analysis: The Delhi Special Police Establishment Act authorises the Central Government to specify offences and extend the force's territorial jurisdiction, but that Act only enables investigation within the limits created by its own scheme. The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act is a special and self-contained enactment governing enforcement, investigation, search, seizure, arrest, examination of witnesses, trial and punishment through officers of the Enforcement Directorate or other persons expressly entrusted under that Act. No notification under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act was shown authorising members of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to discharge the functions of enforcement officers. The Court further held that the general provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure did not displace the special procedure under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, and that alleged offences committed outside India could not be investigated by the Delhi Special Police Establishment in the absence of the Central Government's permission under the Code.

Conclusion: The members of the Delhi Special Police Establishment were not competent to investigate the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act offences in the manner sought, and the refusal of permission to investigate was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special enactment is a complete code for investigation and enforcement, general criminal procedure cannot be invoked to confer investigative competence on an agency unless the special statute itself expressly authorises such agency, and offences alleged to have been committed outside India require the statutory permission of the Central Government before investigation.

---