Criminal courts cannot override income-tax seizure proceedings to compel return of property under a separate statutory regime.

Criminal courts cannot direct return of property validly taken into income-tax custody under the Income-tax Act, 1961 when statutory proceedings are pending before the Commissioner. The court held that the Criminal Procedure Code applies only where seized property remains available for judicial custody or disposal, and that the income-tax authority is not a court. Inherent powers under section 561A of the Criminal Procedure Code could not be used to override the statutory regime or compel restoration of the currency notes. The prayer for return of the seized amount was therefore not maintainable.

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Issues: (i) Whether the Criminal Procedure Code empowered the Magistrate or the High Court to direct return of currency notes seized by income-tax from police custody under a warrant issued under the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: Property seized by the police and not produced before the court may attract orders under the Criminal Procedure Code only when the property remains available for judicial custody or disposal. Here, the money had been taken over by income-tax authorities under statutory warrant, and proceedings were pending before the Commissioner under the Income-tax Act, 1961. Those proceedings were not criminal proceedings, and the income-tax authority was not a court. The statutory powers conferred by the Income-tax Act could not be interfered with by invoking the court's inherent powers under section 561A of the Criminal Procedure Code or the connected criminal-process provisions.

Conclusion: The Magistrate had no jurisdiction to direct return of the seized amount, and the prayer for a direction to the Commissioner of Income-tax to restore the money was not maintainable.

Final Conclusion: The revision failed and the challenge to the refusal of return of the seized currency was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where property has been validly taken into the custody of income-tax authorities under the Income-tax Act, 1961 and is the subject of pending statutory proceedings, criminal courts cannot use their inherent or ancillary powers to override that statutory regime or compel its return.

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