Goods seized under the Customs Act remain within the statutory...

Goods seized under the Customs Act remain within the statutory confiscation and penalty adjudication framework where prior sanction has not been obtained and cognizance of a Customs offence has not been taken. The proper officer's special power to grant provisional release pending adjudication cannot be displaced through the general criminal-law power to release property on zimma. Consequently, a Sessions Court lacks jurisdiction to order release of seized areca nuts on zimma in those circumstances, and the release order was set aside.