155. Malkhana Register. (Section 3, Bengal Act II of 1866) (Section 9, Bengal Act IV of 1866). - (a) A Malkhana Register in West Bengal Form No. 4328 shall be maintained at each police station.
A separate register in the same form shall be maintained for property seized in connection with petty cases.(b)No Malkhana Register shall be kept at outposts. If any property is deposited at an outpost the Officer-in-charge of the outpost shall forward it forthwith to the police station for necessary action.(c)Every item of property including cash taken charge of by the police whether stolen, intestate, unclaimed or suspicious property, exhibits in cases and property seized by order of a court or in execution of warrants or found on the person of accused, etc., etc., shall be entered in the Malkhana Register.Note. - Property seized by the police in execution of warrants issued by courts on complaints filed directly in court shall, in the Town of Calcutta, be made over to the issuing court and in the suburbs to the Court Inspector who shall enter it in his Malkhana Register.(d)All cash seized shall be noted in red ink in the Malkhana Register. The total of the cash in hand shall be noted in each Malkhana Register every day at a fixed time and these two totals shall be shown separately every day in the cash account.(e)All gold and valuable jewellery taken charge of shall be tested. The expense of the testing shall be met from the contingent grant. The name and address of the Poddar who tested and the shape, size and weight of the articles shall be carefully noted in the Malkhana Register. Vague descriptions are prohibited.(f)Exhibits, in all political cases and in cases of murder, dacoity, robbery, drugging and other cases of special importance, shall not be disposed of without the orders of the Magistrate concerned and without the approval of the Deputy Commissioner, Special Branch, in political cases and of the Deputy Commissioner, Detective Department, in other cases.(g)(i)Seized and confiscated excisable articles of cases under the Bengal Excise Act, 1909 (Bengal Act V of 1909), and the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1930 (II of 1930), shall be kept in the Malkhana.(ii)On the conclusion of trial they shall be sent, without delay, to the Collector of Excise for disposal.(iii)In contested cases the Collector of Excise shall be asked to postpone disposal until the period of appeal against conviction or confiscation is over, or until the appeal has been finally disposed of.Exhibits or property seized or otherwise received of little or no commercial value or of objectionable odour or of a perishable nature may, however, be disposed of by order of the Magistrate on the conclusion of the case. In case of emergency, however, the articles may be destroyed with the permission of the Divisional Deputy Commissioner.(iv)Drugs shall always be forwarded for disposal to the Collector of Excise irrespective of their quantity or conditions.(v)Divisional Deputy Commissioners are responsible for seeing that excisable articles are not unnecessarily kept pending in Malkhanas.(h)When under orders of a court of competent jurisdiction or of the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner property is returned to any person, a signed and dated receipt shall be taken from him in the register.(i)Once a fortnight on the day fixed by the Deputy Commissioner, Detective Department, for his police station the Officer-in-charge shall send to the Officer-in-charge of the Central Malkhana the Malkhana Register and the exhibits in cases in which there are absconders, condemned Government property and all intestate and confiscated property with the exception of articles of large bulk which shall be retained in the police station, a note to that effect being made in the Register. The Officer-in-charge of the General Malkhana shall take over the articles and sign for them in the Register.Note. - Exhibits in cases in which there are absconders shall not be sent until after the expiry of six months from the date of the issue of proclamation.(j)All unclaimed movable property shall be sent to the Central Malkhana within 24 hours of its receipt.(k)Articles, such as, vegetables, fish, meat, etc., subject to speedy and natural decay, shall, if not claimed by the owner immediately after they have been taken charge of, be at once sold to the highest bidder by public auction by the Officer-in-charge of the police station. The name and address of the highest bidder and the price obtained shall be noted in the Malkhana Register and also a cross-reference to the relevant entry in the General Diary. The sale proceeds shall be credited to the head office and cross-reference to the receipt obtained therefrom shall be noted in the register.(l)Property pending disposal at the end of the year shall be carried forward to the next year's list and shown in red ink.
