Special statute prevails over general penal law where the Customs Act provides its own penalty for summons non-compliance.

A special statute with its own penal mechanism excludes resort to the general penal law for the same conduct. The Punjab and Haryana High Court treated the Customs Act, 1962 as a complete code for alleged non-compliance with summons under Section 108, noting that Section 117 prescribes penalty where no express penalty is otherwise provided. Applying the scheme preserving special law and special procedure, the Court held that alleged non-appearance or non-production in response to customs summons could not be prosecuted under Sections 174 and 175 of the Indian Penal Code. The complaint and summoning orders under the IPC were therefore quashed, leaving any action to proceed, if at all, under the Customs Act.

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Issues: Whether a complaint and summoning order under Sections 174 and 175 of the Indian Penal Code could be sustained for alleged non-compliance with summons issued under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962, when the Customs Act itself contains Section 117 prescribing penalty for contravention.

Analysis: Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 empowers a customs officer to summon persons and require production of documents, while Section 117 provides a penalty where a person contravenes any provision of the Act and no express penalty is elsewhere provided. The scheme of Sections 4 and 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 preserves special laws and special procedures. On that basis, the Customs Act was treated as a complete special code governing the alleged default, and the general penal provisions of Sections 174 and 175 of the Indian Penal Code were held inapplicable to the alleged non-appearance or non-production in response to customs summons.

Conclusion: The complaint and the orders based on prosecution under Sections 174 and 175 of the Indian Penal Code were quashed, and the matter was held to be capable of proceeding, if at all, under Section 117 of the Customs Act, 1962.

Final Conclusion: The petition succeeded because the alleged default under customs summons was held not to attract the general offences under the Indian Penal Code where the Customs Act provides its own penal mechanism.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special statute creates a complete code and provides a specific penalty for contravention, prosecution under the general penal law is excluded for the same conduct unless the special statute is silent.

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