Express arrest power under excise law survives non-cognizable classification and permits warrantless arrest by authorised officers.

A statutory declaration that offences are non-cognizable under criminal procedure restricts police arrest without warrant, but it does not limit an express arrest power conferred on a duly authorised Central Excise Officer. The officer may arrest without warrant where he has reason to believe a person is liable to punishment under the Central Excise Act, 1944. Procedural requirements governing searches and arrests must still be followed, but they do not extinguish the substantive departmental power of arrest. The article treats the special provisions on arrest and search as confirming that power rather than ing it.

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Issues: Whether a duly authorised Central Excise Officer can arrest a person without a warrant if he has reason to believe that the person is liable to be punished under the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Analysis: Section 9A deems offences under Section 9 to be non-cognizable only within the meaning of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, which restricts police arrest without warrant. Section 13 independently confers substantive power on an authorised Central Excise Officer to arrest a person whom he has reason to believe to be liable to punishment under the Act. Section 18 regulates searches and arrests by requiring the procedure of the Code of Criminal Procedure to be followed, but it does not curtail the power created by Section 13. The special provisions in Sections 26(d) and 27 were treated as explicit illustrations of the power already implicit in Section 13, not as exceptions showing that arrest without warrant is unavailable elsewhere.

Conclusion: The objection that arrest without warrant is barred was rejected. A duly authorised Central Excise Officer is not debarred from arresting a person without a warrant when he has reason to believe that the person is liable to be punished under the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Final Conclusion: The petitions failed on the central legal issue and were dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory declaration that an offence is non-cognizable restricts police power under criminal procedure, but it does not curtail an express substantive power of arrest conferred on a specially authorised departmental officer unless the statute clearly says so.

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