Statutory empowerment of departmental officers valid where the narcotics bureau is only a wing of the revenue department.

The statutory scheme permits the Central Government to constitute an authority by notification for specified functions and to empower officers of its departments to exercise search, seizure, arrest and complaint powers under the Act. On that basis, the Narcotics Control Bureau was treated as a wing of the Department of Revenue, not a separate statutory entity or distinct legal person. The ordinary meaning of "department", supported by official directions and recruitment rules, confirmed that Bureau officers were Government officers capable of being validly empowered under the relevant provisions. The later notifications were held to authorise statutory powers without enlarging the Bureau's charter, so the exclusion of one item from the notified functions did not invalidate them.

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Issues: Whether the Narcotics Control Bureau was only a branch of the Department of Revenue and whether the notifications empowering its officers to exercise powers of search, seizure, arrest and complaint under the Act were valid.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of Section 4 shows that the Act does not itself create the Narcotics Control Bureau but enables the Central Government to constitute an authority by notification for specified functions and subject to its control. The Bureau was therefore not a separate statutory body or distinct legal entity, but only a wing of the Department of Revenue. The expression "department" was applied in its ordinary governmental sense, and the surrounding material, including official directions and recruitment rules, supported that conclusion. On that basis, officers of the Bureau formed part of a department of the Central Government and could be empowered under Sections 36A, 41, 42 and 67 to perform the relevant functions. The exclusion of one item from the notified functions under Section 4 did not invalidate those later empowering notifications, because they did not enlarge the Bureau's charter but only authorised Government officers to exercise statutory powers.

Conclusion: The notifications empowering NCB officers were valid, the search, seizure, arrest and complaint by such officers were authorised, and the contrary view of the High Court of Delhi was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The appeal by the State succeeded and was remitted for decision on merits, while the connected appeal challenging the empowerment of NCB officers failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute authorises the Central Government to constitute an authority and to empower officers of its departments, an authority created under the Act as a wing of a Government department is not a separate statutory entity, and notifications conferring specified statutory powers on its officers are valid.

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