Companies Act, 2013
209.
Search
and seizure.
1. Where, upon
information in his possession or otherwise, the Registrar or inspector has
reasonable ground to believe that the books and papers of a company, or
relating to the key managerial personnel or any director or auditor or company
secretary in practice if the company has not appointed a company secretary, are
likely to be destroyed, mutilated, altered, falsified or secreted, he may,
after obtaining an order from the Special Court for the seizure of such books
and papers,—
a.
enter,
with such assistance as may be required, and search, the place or places where
such books or papers are kept; and
b.
seize
such books and papers as he considers necessary after allowing the company to
take copies of, or extracts from, such books or papers at its cost.
1.
2. The Registrar or
inspector shall return the books and papers seized under subsection (1 ),
as soon as may be, and in any case not later than one hundred and eightieth day
after such seizure, to the company from whose custody or power such books or
papers were seized:
Provided
that the books and papers may be called for by the Registrar or inspector for a
further period of one hundred and eighty days by an order in writing if they
are needed again:
Provided
further that the Registrar or inspector may, before returning such books and
papers as aforesaid, take copies of, or extracts from them or place
identification marks on them or any part thereof or deal with the same in such
other manner as he considers necessary.
3. The provisions of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 relating to searches or seizures shall apply, mutatis
mutandis, to every search and seizure made under this section.