Transit liquor consignments can still attract excise jurisdiction in Assam when suspected violations arise during carriage through the State.

Excise authorities under the Assam Excise Act, 2000 may search, seize and initiate proceedings against liquor consignments in transit through Assam where suspicious violations arise during passage through the State. Sections 42 and 43 were described as empowering specially authorised officers to investigate offences and exercise powers analogous to a police officer, including search where appropriate under Section 165 of the CrPC. Transit from one outside State to another did not exclude jurisdiction if the alleged offence occurred within Assam. The material on record and the pending confiscation process were treated as disclosing a prima facie basis for further investigation and proceedings.

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Issues: Whether the Excise authorities had jurisdiction under the Assam Excise Act, 2000 to search, seize and initiate proceedings against liquor consignments in transit through Assam from Arunachal Pradesh to Nagaland.

Analysis: The consignments were being transported through Assam on a specified route and the Excise officer recorded suspicion of violations in the route, batch number and date of manufacture. Sections 42 and 43 of the Assam Excise Act, 2000 empowered specially authorised Excise officers to investigate offences and to exercise powers analogous to those of a police officer, including search in appropriate circumstances under Section 165 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The movement of liquor in transit did not oust the statutory power of the Excise authorities merely because the origin and destination lay outside Assam, since the alleged offence arose during passage through territory governed by the Act. The Court also held that the pending confiscation process and the material on record disclosed a prima facie case for investigation and further proceedings.

Conclusion: The search and seizure by the Excise authorities were held to be within jurisdiction and the challenge to the proceedings failed.

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