Special prosecution under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act excludes police FIR investigation, while arrest power lies with the Drugs Inspector.

For offences under Chapter IV of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the special prosecution scheme excludes the ordinary police FIR-and-investigation route: prosecution may be instituted only by the specified statutory authorities, and a police report under the Code is incompatible with that scheme. By contrast, the Drugs Inspector may exercise arrest power as an incidental enforcement measure for cognizable Chapter IV offences, subject to the Code of Criminal Procedure and constitutional safeguards under Article 22. FIRs already registered were directed to be handed over to the Drugs Inspector for action in accordance with law.

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Issues: (i) Whether, in respect of offences under Chapter IV of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, a police officer can register a first information report under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and investigate the offence. (ii) Whether the Drugs Inspector has power to arrest a person in connection with cognizable offences under Chapter IV of the Act.

Issue (i): Whether, in respect of offences under Chapter IV of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, a police officer can register a first information report under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and investigate the offence.

Analysis: Chapter IV of the Act contains a special scheme for cognizance and prosecution. Section 32 permits institution of prosecution only by the specified categories and excludes prosecution through a police report. The procedure under the Code of Criminal Procedure applies only to the extent it is not inconsistent with the Act. Although Section 36AC declares certain offences cognizable and non-bailable, that provision does not authorise the police to take over the statutory mechanism created by Section 32. A police report under Section 173 of the Code is incompatible with cognizance under Section 32, and the police cannot carry out the ordinary FIR-investigation-charge-sheet route for offences covered by Chapter IV.

Conclusion: A police officer cannot register an FIR under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for offences falling within Chapter IV of the Act, and cannot investigate those offences under the ordinary Code procedure.

Issue (ii): Whether the Drugs Inspector has power to arrest a person in connection with cognizable offences under Chapter IV of the Act.

Analysis: The Act confers extensive powers on the Inspector for inspection, search, seizure, sampling, and prosecution, and Section 22(1)(d) authorises the Inspector to exercise such other powers as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes of Chapter IV. Read with the Act's scheme and the need to make Section 36AC workable, the Court treated arrest as an incidental power necessary for effective enforcement, subject to the safeguards applicable to arrest under the Code of Criminal Procedure and the constitutional safeguards in Article 22. The Court also directed that FIRs already registered should be made over to the Drugs Inspector for action in accordance with law.

Conclusion: The Drugs Inspector has power to arrest without warrant in relation to cognizable offences under Chapter IV of the Act, subject to the Code of Criminal Procedure and constitutional safeguards.

Final Conclusion: The special prosecution scheme under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act prevails over the ordinary police FIR-and-report process for Chapter IV offences, while enforcement of those offences through arrest is vested in the Drugs Inspector rather than the police.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special statute prescribes exclusive modes of cognizance and prosecution, the ordinary police investigation route under the Code of Criminal Procedure is excluded to that extent, but ancillary enforcement powers necessary to implement the special statute may be exercised by the statutorily designated authority if supported by the statutory scheme.

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