Indian Post Office Act, 1898
23. Power to deal with postal articles posted in
contravention of Act
(1) Any postal article
sent by post in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act may be
detained and either returned to the sender or forwarded to destination, in each
case charged with such additional postage (if any) as the Central Government
may by rule, direct.
(2) Any officer in
charge of post office or authorized by the Post Master General in this behalf
may open or unfasten any newspaper or any book, pattern or sample packet, in
course of transmission by post, which he suspects to have been sent by post in
contravention of 17[section 20, clause (a), of] on section 21 or of
any of the provisions of this Act relating to postage.
(3) Notwithstanding
anything in sub-section (1) -
(a) any postal article sent by post in
contravention of the provisions of section 19 15[or section 19A]
may, under the authority of the Post Master General, if necessary, be opened
and destroyed; and
18 [(b) any postal article sent by post in
contravention of the provisions of section 20 may be disposed of in such manner
as the Central Government may by rule direct.]