Customs Act, 1962 › Chapter XIII — Searches, seizure and arrest

Section 105. Power to search premises

Customs Act, 1962

Bare Act

Power to search premises. —

(1) If the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs, or in any area adjoining the land frontier or the coast of India an officer of customs specially empowered by name in this behalf by the Board, has reason to believe that any goods liable to confiscation, or any documents or things which in his opinion will be useful for or relevant to any proceeding under this Act, are secreted in any place, he may authorise any officer of customs to search or may himself search for such goods, documents or things.

(2)The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), relating to searches shall, so far as may be, apply to searches under this section subject to the modification that sub-section (5) of section 165 of the said Code shall have effect as if for the word"Magistrate", wherever it occurs, the words Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs were substituted.

Judgments on Section 105

  • Shri.K.Ananthapadmanabha Rao vs The Commissioner Of Central Taxes — Karnataka High Court, 27 Apr 2026. An order of dismissal passed without granting a specifically requested personal hearing—despite pending parallel criminal discharge and customs appellate proceedings—violates the principles of natural justice, and such…
  • Bijan Halder And Anr. vs State Of West Bengal And Ors. — Calcutta High Court, 14 May 1993. Since offences under the Customs Act are non-cognizable (Section 104(4)) and customs officers act under independent statutory powers rather than as police investigating officers, Section 167, Cr.P.C.
  • Manjula vs D.A. Srinivas — Supreme Court of India, 8 May 2026. Courts are concerned not with the façade but with the substance that lies beneath it, and the judicial process cannot be invoked to validate, protect, or perfect that which the law itself declares impermissible.