Non-bailable warrant for attendance in a tax recovery complaint is valid when issued for repeated non-appearance.
A non-bailable warrant may validly be issued under the Code of Criminal Procedure to secure a person's attendance in a pending complaint, even where the complaint relates to recovery of sales tax arrears. The warrant was treated as an attendance process after repeated non-appearance, not as coercive action for non-payment of tax. On that basis, the Magistrate was competent to issue the warrant, and authorities dealing with recovery of tax itself were held inapplicable because they did not address warrants issued for absence in pending proceedings.
Issues: Whether the Metropolitan Magistrate was competent to issue a non-bailable warrant to secure the petitioner's appearance in a complaint relating to recovery of sales tax arrears.
Analysis: The warrant was issued not as a coercive step for default in payment of tax arrears, but to secure the petitioner's presence in the pending complaint after repeated non-appearance. The recovery application arose under section 24(2)(b) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, but the impugned warrant was treated as an attendance process in the complaint proceedings. In that context, section 87 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 empowered the Magistrate to issue a non-bailable warrant to secure appearance. The authorities cited by the petitioner were held inapplicable because they dealt with recovery of tax as such and not with a warrant issued for non-appearance in pending proceedings.
Conclusion: The Magistrate had jurisdiction to issue the non-bailable warrant for securing the petitioner's attendance, and the challenge to the warrant failed.
Ratio Decidendi: A non-bailable warrant issued to secure the appearance of a defaulter in a pending complaint is valid under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 even where the complaint concerns recovery of tax arrears, provided the warrant is not issued as punishment or coercion for non-payment of the tax itself.
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