Rule 148 — Search and Seizure under section 247. Made under s.247, s.251 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 148 gives effect to Section 247 and Section 251 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.
Sub-rule (1) provides that the powers of search and seizure under section 247 are to be exercised in accordance with sub-rules (2) to (21).
Sub-rule (2) prescribes the authorisation forms: Form No. 82 for an authorisation under section 247(1) by the approving authority empowered by the Board, or by a Joint Director or Joint Commissioner so authorised by that approving authority; Form No. 83 for an authorisation under section 247(2) by a Principal Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner, Principal Commissioner or Commissioner; and Form No. 84 for an authorisation under section 247(3) by the same ranks. Sub-rule (3) requires every such authorisation to be in writing under the signature of the issuing officer and to bear his seal.
Sub-rules (4) to (6) deal with entry. Any person in charge of or in any building, place, vessel, vehicle or aircraft authorised to be searched must, on demand and on production of the authority, allow free ingress and afford all reasonable facilities for the search. If ingress into a building or place cannot be obtained even after notification of the authorised officer's authority and purpose and a demand of admittance, he may enter and search, and may break open any outer or inner door or window, whether of the person to be searched or of any other person, with such assistance of police officers or officers of the Central Government, or of any person or entity referred to in section 247(5)(b), as may be required. For a vessel, vehicle or aircraft he may stop the vessel or vehicle or compel an aircraft to stop or land and search any part of it, and after the same notification and demand may break open doors or windows, with the same assistance.
Sub-rule (7) requires that where the premises are occupied by a woman who according to custom does not appear in public, the authorised officer must, before entering, give her notice that she is at liberty to withdraw and afford her every reasonable facility for withdrawing.
Sub-rules (8) and (9) deal with receptacles and computer systems. The authorised officer may require the owner or the person having immediate possession or control of any box, locker, safe, almirah or other receptacle, or access to a computer system, to allow access including by opening it, to inspect or examine its contents or any information stored in it. Where the keys or the access code are not available or the person does not comply, the officer may cause any action to be taken, including breaking open the receptacle or overriding the access code, that he considers necessary for the purposes specified in the authority.
Sub-rule (10) allows the personal search of any person referred to in section 247(1)(iv) with such assistance as the officer considers necessary, and where that person is a woman the search shall be made by another woman with a strict regard to decency.
Sub-rules (11) to (16) deal with witnesses and lists. Before making a search the authorised officer must call upon two or more respectable persons who are inhabitants of the locality of the building or place, or of another locality if no such inhabitant is available or willing, and for a vessel, vehicle or aircraft any two or more respectable persons, to attend and witness the search, and may issue a written order to them. A person who without reasonable cause refuses or neglects to attend and witness a search when called upon by an order in writing delivered or tendered to him may be considered to have committed an offence under section 222 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and suitable proceedings can be initiated. The search shall be made in the presence of the witnesses, who shall sign the statement made under section 247(6) by any person and the list of all assets seized and material seized prepared by the authorised officer. No person witnessing a search shall be required to attend as a witness in any proceedings under the Act unless specially summoned. The occupant, including the person in charge of a vessel, vehicle or aircraft or someone on his behalf, is to be permitted to attend during the search and to be given a copy of the lists. Where a person is searched under section 247(1)(iv), a list of all assets and material seized is to be prepared and a copy delivered to him.
Sub-rules (17) and (18) deal with packaging. All assets and material seized, except money and books of account and documents in physical form, are to be placed in a package or packages and listed with the details. Every package bears an identification mark and the seal of the authorised officer, the occupant is also to be permitted to place his seal or signature on it, and a copy of the list with the details of the packages and their contents is to be delivered to him.
Sub-rules (19) and (20) deal with custody. The authorised officer may convey all the assets and materials seized, the packages, the list and the statements recorded during the search to the office of any income-tax authority not below the rank of Income-tax Officer, the Custodian, and any money seized may also be deposited with him. The Custodian is to take such steps as he considers necessary for safe custody, may deposit packages preferably in the strong room maintained by the office of the Director General or, where none is available, in safe deposit lockers hired by the Director General or Principal Director or Director or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner in the State Bank of India or any of its subsidiaries or any other nationalised or authorised bank; the strong room or locker is to be operated jointly by two officers nominated by the Director General; and money deposited with him may be credited or remitted through the nearest branch of the Reserve Bank of India or the State Bank of India or its subsidiaries or any authorised bank for credit to the Personal Deposit Account of the named authority.
Sub-rule (21) governs the opening of a sealed package. Where a package must be opened for any purpose of the Act, the authorised officer may, unless he is himself the Custodian, requisition it, and after giving reasonable notice to the person from whose custody the contents were seized to be present, may break any seal and open it in the presence of two respectable witnesses and that person if present. That person is to be permitted to be present until the contents are placed in a fresh package or packages and sealed in the manner of sub-rules (17) and (18), or delivered to him or to the Custodian.
Sub-rule (22) gives the Assessing Officer to whom the assets and materials seized have been handed over under section 251(1) all the powers conferred on the authorised officer under sub-rules (19) and (21).
Section 247 confers the power to search and seize; it does not say how the power is to be exercised on the ground. This rule writes the procedure — which form authorises what, what may be broken open and after what warning, who must witness the search and sign the lists, what the occupant is entitled to see and keep a copy of, and where the seized property goes afterwards. Almost every requirement in it is a safeguard: the sealed and countersigned package, the local witnesses, the copies of lists, the notice to a woman who does not appear in public, and the rule that a package is reopened only after notice to the person it was seized from.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of witnesses to a search of a building or place | Two or more respectable persons | Inhabitants of the locality of the building or place, or of any other locality if no such inhabitant is available or willing | Sub-rule (11)(a) |
| Number of witnesses to a search of a vessel, vehicle or aircraft | Any two or more respectable persons | Called upon before making the search | Sub-rule (11)(b) |
| Officers operating the strong room or safe deposit locker | Two officers nominated by the Director General | The strong room or locker is to be operated jointly by them | Sub-rule (20)(c) |
| Lowest rank that may act as Custodian | Not below the rank of Income-tax Officer | The office of the income-tax authority to which seized assets and materials may be conveyed | Sub-rule (19) |
| Witnesses required when a sealed package is opened | Two respectable witnesses | In addition to the person from whose custody the contents were seized, if present, after reasonable notice to him | Sub-rule (21)(a) |
Breaking open is lawful only after the steps that precede it: notification of the officer's authority, notification of the purpose, and a demand of admittance that has not been met. Once those are done the power is wide — an outer or inner door or window, of the person to be searched or of anyone else, and for a computer system the access code may be overridden — but it is sequenced, not summary. The occupant's protections are documentary and should be checked at the time, because they are hard to reconstruct later: he is entitled to attend, to place his own seal or signature on every package, and to receive a copy of the lists of assets and material seized and of the packages and their contents. Money and books of account and documents in physical form are outside the packaging requirement in sub-rule (17), which is why they are dealt with separately in the custody provisions. Witnessing a search does not commit anyone to giving evidence: sub-rule (14) frees a witness from attending in proceedings under the Act unless specially summoned, while sub-rule (12) makes refusal to attend the search itself a matter that can attract proceedings under section 222 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Finally, when a sealed package is reopened, sub-rule (21) requires reasonable notice to the person from whose custody the contents were seized and resealing in the same manner — a package cannot quietly be opened and closed again.
An authorised officer holding an authorisation in Form No. 82 reaches a firm's business premises, produces the authority and is refused entry. After notifying his authority and purpose and demanding admittance, he breaks open the outer door with police assistance under sub-rule (5), having first called two respectable inhabitants of the locality to witness the search. A locked safe is opened after the partner declines to produce the key, and the contents other than cash and physical books are placed in a sealed package bearing the officer's seal, on which the partner also signs, and a copy of the list of its contents is handed to him.
A reader meets this rule during the search itself — in the authorisation shown at the door, the panchnama and lists signed by the witnesses, and the sealed packages — and afterwards when a package is requisitioned from the Custodian and reopened on notice, or when the seized material is handed over to the Assessing Officer under section 251(1).
Every authorisation referred to in sub-rule (2) shall be in writing under the signature of the officer issuing the authorisation and shall bear his seal.
where such person is a woman, the search shall be made by another woman with a strict regard to decency
No person witnessing a search shall be required to attend as a witness of the search in any proceedings under the Act, unless specially summoned.